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EDITED    BY 


STUART    J.    REID 


TUB    EARL    OF   ABERDEEN 


THE  QUEEN'S  PRIME  MINISTERS 

A  SERIES   OF  POLITICAL   BIOGRAPHIES. 

EDITED    BY 

STTJ.A.I^T    J-.    IRDBinD 

AUTHOR   OF    'the   LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF   SYDNEY  SMITH.' 


TAg  volumes  contain  Photogravure  Portraits^ 
also  copies  of  Autographs. 

I. 
THE  EARL  OF  BEACONSFIELD,  K.G.    By  J.  A.  Froude,  D.C.L. 
(Seventh  Edition.) 

II. 

VISCOUNT  MELBOURNE.     By  Henry  Dunckley,  LL.D.  ('Verax.') 

III. 
SIR  ROBERT  PEEL.     By  Justin  McCarthy,  M.P. 

IV. 
THE    RIGHT    HON.    W.    E.    GLADSTONE,    M.P.      By  G.  W.  E. 

Russell.    (Twelfth  Thousand.) 

V. 

THE  MARQUIS  OF  SALISBURY.    By  H.  D.  Traill,  D.C.L.  (Second 
Edition.) 

VI. 

VISCOUNT  PALMERSTON.     By  the    Marquis   of   Lorne.    (Second 
Edition.) 

VII. 

THE  EARL  OF  DERBY.     By  George  Saintsbury. 

VIIL 

THE  EARL  OF  ABERDEEN.    By  Sir  Arthur  Gordon,  G.C.M.G. 

IX. 

LORD  JOHN  RUSSELL.     By  Stuart  J.  Reid. 

««*  A  Limited  Library  Edition  of  TWO  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY 
COPIES,  each  numbered,  printed  on  hand-made  paper,  parchment  binding, 
gilt  top,  with  facsimile  reproductions,  in  some  cases  of  characteristic  notes 
of  Speeches  and  Letters,  which  are  not  included  in  tho  ordinary  edition, 
and  some  additional  Portraits.  Price  for  the  Complete  Set  of  Nine  Volumes, 
FOUP  Guineas  net.     No  Volumes  of  this  Edition  sold  separately. 


NEW  YORK: 
HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  Franklin  Square. 


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"**-  <fe/ ,  («i^,y»>?^  '"' 


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THE 


EARL    OF    ABERDEEN 


BY 

THE    HON.  SIR   ARTHUR   GORDON 

G.C.M.G. 


S^ 


t3  m  m  OYZ, 


'  Let  Princes  and  States  choose  such  ministers  as  are  more 
sensible  of  Duty  than  of  Rising  ;  and  such  as  love  Businesse 
rather  upon  Conscience  than  upon  Bravery ' 

Bacon  '  0/  Ambition  ' 


NEW   YORK 
HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  FRANKLIN  SQUARE 

^893 


M9FHTI 


5-3^ 


-^.^^^ 


1^ 


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TO 

MARY 

COUNTESS     DOWAGER     OF     ABERDEEN 

THESE    PAGES    ARE    DEDICATED 


20G9G0 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


It  was  with  reluctance  that  I  consented  to  write  this  book, 
when  requested  to  do  so  by  Mr.  Stuart  Reid,  for  the 
events  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  Hfe  and  the  nature  of  his  cha- 
racter were  such  as  render  it  pecuHarly  difficult  to  do  justice 
to  them  within  the  limits  of  a  short  biography.  I  am  con- 
scious, moreover,  that  the  appearance  of  such  a  volume 
must  materially  diminish  the  interest  and  value  of  any 
future  publication  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  Correspondence — a 
duty  entrusted  to  me  by  the  terms  of  my  father's  will. 

Nevertheless,  as,  to  complete  the  series  of  '  Lives  of  the 
Prime  Ministers  of  Queen  Victoria,'  a  Life  of  Lord  Aberdeen 
must  in  any  case  have  been  written,  I  thought  that  it  was, 
on  the  whole,  better  that  the  task  should  be  undertaken  by 
me  than  by  someone  having  no  personal  knowledge  of  the 
subject  of  the  Memoir. 

The  misgivings  with  which  I  began  my  work  have 
been  fully  justified.  The  narrow  compasis  within  which  the 
volumes  of  this  series  are  necessarily  confined  has  com- 
pelled me  to  omit  much  of  importance  to  a  true  under- 
standing of  Lord  Aberdeen's  character,  and  to  content 
myself  with  assertion  where  I  should  have  desired  to  adduce 
documentary  proof.  Full  materials  for  a  true  appreciation 
of  Lord  Aberdeen  himself,  or  for  an  accurate  knowledge 


Vlll  LORD  ABERDEEN 

of  the  events  in  which  he  took  part,  will  not  exist  until 
the  publication  of  the  Correspondence  above  referred  to. 
The  longer  I  consider  what  I  have  now  written,  the  more 
sensible  I  become  of  its  faults  and  shortcomings. 

The  beauties  to  th'  original  I  owe, 

Which,  when  I  miss,  my  own  defects  I  show. 

It  is  my  duty  humbly  to  acknowledge  the  permission 
graciously  accorded  by  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  to  pubhsh 
the  letter  printed  at  page  291. 

My  thanks  are  also  due  to  Mr.  Gladstone  for  leave 
to  make  use  of  the  extracts  from  his  letters  which  are  to  be 
found  in  different  parts  of  the  volume  ;  as  well  as  to  Mrs.  C. 
Baring  for  permission  to  quote  those  of  her  father.  Sir 
James  Graham. 


TABLE 

OF 

CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

EARLY    YEARS:    I784-I812 

The  Gordon  Family — Lord  Aberdeen's  Childhood — Names  Pitt 
and  Dundas  his  Guardians —  Harrow  and  Cambridge — Travels 
in  the  Levant — Bentley  Priory — Marriage — Death  of  Mr. 
Pitt — Opening  of  Public  Life— Death  of  Lady  Aberdeen — 
Letter  to  Gurney         ........ 


CHAPTER  H 

EMBASSY    TO   GERMANY 

Lord  Aberdeen  accepts  Embassy  to  Austria — His  Instructions- 
Journey  to  Teplitz — Treaty  with  Austria—  Battle  of  Leipsic— 
Negotiations  at  Frankfort — Advance  to  the  Rhine — Congress 
of  Chatillon— Peace  of  Paris 


LORD  ABERDEEN 
CHAPTER  III 

SECOND   MARRIAGE — PRIVATE   LIFE  :    1814-1827 


PAGK 


Lord  Aberdeen's  Second  Marriage — Domestic  Life — Letter  to 
Castlereagh  on  Greek  Insurrection —The  Aberdeen  Acts — 
Joins  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  Cabinet— Becomes  Foreign 
Secretary 66 


CHAPTER  IV 

FOREIGN    OFFICE  :    1828-I83O 

War  between  Turkey  and  Russia — Choice  of  a  Sovereign  for 
Greece— Affairs  of  Portugal — Expedition  to  Algiers—  French 
Revolution  of  1830 76 


CHAPTER  V 

OPPOSITION — COLONIAL  OFFICE  :    183O-I84I 

Reform  Bill — Marriage  of  Lord  Abercorn— Death  of  Lady  Alice 
Gordon,  of  Lady  Aberdeen,  and  of  Lady  Frances  Gordon — 
Formation  of  Sir  R.  Peel's  Government — Colonial  Office — 
Mr.  Gladstone — Canada — Opposition — Private  Life — Opi- 
nions on  Foreign  Affairs — Again  becomes  Foreign  Secretary     103 


CHAPTER  VI 

SCOTCH   CHURCH   AFFAIRS 

Constitution  of  the  Scottish  Church— The  Veto  Act— Mr,  Whyte's 
Case — Negotiation  with  Church  Leaders — Introduction  of 
Lord  Aberdeen's  Bill — Attitude  of  the  Government  and  of 
the  General  Assembly — Bill  withdrawn — Fresh  Negotiations 
—Their  Failure  at  the  moment  of  success^Attitude  of 
Parties  in  1842-43 — The  Great  Secession— Lord  Aberdeen's 
Act  adopted 121 


CONTENTS  XI 

CHAPTER  VII 

FOREIGN   OFFICE:    184I-I846 


FACE 


Relations  with  France— The  Tahiti  Affair— The  Greek  Revolu- 
tion—The Spanish  Marriages — The  Ashburton  and  Oregon 
Treaties— Questions  raised  in  connection  with  Texas— Fare- 
wells of  M.  Guizot  and  Mme.  de  Lieven      .         .         .         -152 


CHAPTER   VIII 
1846-1853 

Lord  Aberdeen  at  home — Language  as  to  the  Spanish  Marriages 
— Disapproval  of  Lord  Palmerston's  Policy — Death  of  Sir 
Robert  Peel — Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill — Asked  to  form  a 
Government,  but  declines — Neapolitan  Letters — Attitude 
after  the  Fall  of  Lord  John  Russell's  Government — Becomes 
Prime  Minister 188 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE    CRIMEAN    WAR 

Prince  Menschikotf's  Mission — Count  Nesselrode's  Forecast  of 
Events — Alarm  felt  in  England — The  Principalities  occupied 
by  Russia — The  Vienna  Note — Subsequent  Negotiations- 
Battle  of  Sinope — Declaration  of  War — Policy  of  Lord  Aber- 
deen during  the  War   ........     229 


CHAPTER  X 

LORD  JOHN    RUSSELL   AS   A  COLLEAGUE 

•Lord  John  Russell  and  the  Vienna  Note — Lord  Palmerston's 
Resignation — Postponement  of  the  Reform  Bill — Correspond- 
ence respecting  the  War  Office — The  Kennedy  Affair — Resig- 
nation of  Lord  John  Russell — Letter  to  the  Duke  of  Bedford     265. 


Xii  LORD  ABERDEEN 

CHAPTER  XI 

CLOSING  YEARS  :    1855-I860 

PAGE 

Lord  Aberdeen  assists  in  the  Formation  of  Lord  Palmerston's 
Government — Letter  to  Sidney  Herbert — Is  made  a  Knight 
of  the  Garter — Letter  from  the  Queen — Letter  from  Mr. 
Gladstone — Lord  John  and  the  Vienna  Negotiations— Do- 
mestic Life — Visit  from  the  Queen — Illness  and  Death—  Mr. 
Gladstone's  Estimate  of  Lord  Aberdeen — General  Sketch  of 
Character   ..........     287 

Index 325 


LORD    ABERDEEN 

CHAPTER   I 

EARLY   YEARS:    1784-1812 

The  Gordon  Family— Lord  Aberdeen's  Childhood — Names  Pitt  and 
Dundas  his  Guardians — Harrow  and  Cambridge — Travels  in  the 
Levant— Bentley  Priory— Marriage— Death  of  Mr.  Pitt— Opening 
of  Public  Life— Death  of  Lady  Aberdeen — Letter  to  Gurney. 

That  Bertrand  de  Gourdon,  by  whose  arrow  King  Richard  I. 
was  killed  before  the  Castle  of  Chains  in  Perigord,  left  chil- 
dren who  settled  in  Scotland  and  became  the  progenitors 
of  the  House  of  Gordon,  is  a  proposition  which  I  should 
hesitate  to  affirm  ;  but  it  is  one  which,  in  the  presence 
of  other  members  of  that  House,  I  should  equally  hesitate 
to  deny.  The  legend  may  not  be  altogether  without  founda- 
tion. The  period  to  which  it  relates  is  not  so  remote  as  to 
be  beyond  the  age  of  credible  tradition.  But  no  records 
in  fact  exist  of  the  first  settlement  of  the  family  in  the  South 
of  Scotland,  and  the  authentic  evidence  of  charters  points 
to  its  establishment  there  at  a  period  long  anterior  to  the 
commencement  of  the  thirteenth  century  ;  the  time  at 
which,  according  to  the  received  tradition,  the  children 
of  Bertrand  de  Gourdon  must  have  sought  that  country  as 
refugees  and  adventurers.    The  migration  northward  of  the 

B 


2  LORD  ABERDEEN 

family  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  the  gradual  acquisition, 
by  its  head,  of  territorial  possessions  from  the  German  Ocean 
to  the  Atlantic,  in  which  he  exercised  all  but  uncontrolled 
power,  can  be  more  clearly  traced.  The  direct  male 
descent  of  the  senior  branch  of  the  family  came  to  an  end  in 
1402.  Its  heiress  married  Alexander  Seton,  who  assumed 
the  Gordon  name.  This  second  family  of  Seton-Gordon, 
the  male  descent  of  which  is  still  represented  by  the 
Marquess  of  Huntly,  also  came  to  an  end,  so  far  as 
its  direct  line  was  concerned,  on  the  death  of  the  last 
Duke  of  Gordon  in  1836,  when  a  great  portion  of  his  vast 
estates  devolved  on  the  son  of  the  Duke's  eldest  sister 
the  Duchess  of  Richmond,  in  favour  of  whose  grandson, 
the  present  Duke  of  Richmond,  the  dukedom  of  Gordon 
has  lately  been  revived  by  the  Queen.  More  than  half  a 
century,  however,  before  the  marriage  of  the  heiress  of 
the  Gordons  with  Alexander  Seton,  a  cadet  of  the  family 
was  established  as  Laird  at  Haddo  in  Aberdeenshire,  and 
from  him,  in  unbroken  and  direct  male  descent,  springs 
the  present  Earl  of  Aberdeen.  As  a  rule,  these  Lairds 
of  Haddo  were  a  tough  and  exceedingly  long-lived  race. 
Excepting  those  who  came  to  a  violent  end  on  the  battle- 
field or  the  scaffold,  there  were  few  of  them  who  did  not 
attain  or  exceed  the  allotted  age  of  man.  Sir  John  Gordon, 
a  distinguished  Cavalier  leader,  was  created  a  baronet 
of  Nova  Scotia  by  Charles  L  His  castle  of  Kellie  was 
besieged  by  the  Marquess  of  Argyll,  and  forced  to  sur- 
render in  consequence  of  the  desertion  of  the  artillery- 
men engaged  in  its  defence.  Sir  John  himself  was  taken 
as  a  prisoner  to  Edinburgh,  and  there  beheaded  in  July 
1644,  being  the  first  person  judicially  executed  for  adher- 
ence to  the  Royal  cause.  His  second  son.  Sir  George, 
who  succeeded  to  the  title  and  estates  on   the   death   of 


THE  GORDON   FAMILY  3 

his  elder  brother,  was  by  Charles  II.  created  Earl  of 
Aberdeen  and  appointed  Lord  High  Chancellor.  That 
office  was  in  Scotland  usually  held  as  one  purely  political 
by  some  great  nobleman  possessing  no  knowledge  of  law. 
Lord  Aberdeen,  who  had  begun  life  as  a  younger  son,  had 
been  bred  to  the  bar,  and  obtained  considerable  credit  by 
his  judicial  decisions  as  Chancellor.  He  declared,  as  a 
judge,  that  the  orders  of  the  Privy  Council  rendering 
husbands  and  fathers  responsible  by  fine  and  imprison- 
ment for  the  opinions  of  their  wives  and  daughters,  could 
not  be  carried  out  under  any  existing  statute,  and  he  declined, 
as  a  minister,  to  propose  any  alteration  in  the  law.  On 
being  told  by  the  King  that  he  '  would  be  served  in  his  own 
manner,  and  according  to  his  own  measures,'  Lord  Aber- 
deen at  once  resigned  the  Great  Seal.  On  the  Revolution 
he  retired  from  public  life,  to  the  regret  of  William  TIL,  to 
whom  he  had  been  represented  as  '  the  solidest  statesman  in 
Scotland.'  He  remained  a  nonjuror  till  the  accession  of 
Queen  Anne,  when  he  again  took  the  oaths.  Like  so  many 
others  of  his  family,  he  lived  to  a  great  age,  dying  in  1720, 
seventy- six  years  after  the  execution  of  his  father.  His  son 
William,  when  Lord  Haddo,  had  been  elected,  after  the 
Union,  to  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  as  member  for 
Aberdeenshire,  but  the  election  was,  after  much  debate,  se^ 
aside  in  17 14,  on  the  plea  that  the  eldest  sons  of  peers  had 
not  been  allowed  to  sit  in  the  Scottish  Parliament,  and  were 
therefore  ineligible  for  Scottish  seats  in  that  of  the  United 
Kingdom.  Lord  Haddo  was  a  decided  Jacobite,  and  per- 
haps more  attention  was  given  by  the  House  of  Commons 
to  that  fact  than  to  the  principles  of  constitutional  law, 
which  were  somewhat  strained  by  the  decision.  Earl 
William  married  successively  a  daughter  of  the  Duke 
of  Athol   and  a  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Gordon,  and 

B  2 


4  LORD   ABERDEEN 

it  may  be  supposed  that  neither  of  these  aUiances 
weakened  his  attachment  to  the  House  of  Stuart.  He 
talked  a  good  deal  of  joining  the  Pretender  in  1745,  but 
though  his  mind  had  been  nearly  made  up  by  the  early 
successes  of  Prince  Charles,  he  was  still  only  talking  about  it 
when,  fortunately  for  the  interests  of  the  family,  he  died 
somewhat  suddenly.  His  eldest  son  and  successor,  George, 
had,  according  to  the  prudent  custom  then  prevalent  in  great 
Scottish  families,  been  bred  a  Whig,  and  at  once  declared 
his  adhesion  to  George  II.  He  died  in  1801,  when  over 
eighty,  surviving  his  eldest  son,  George,  Lord  Haddo.  Lord 
Haddo  had  married,  in  1782,  Charles  Baird,  daughter  of 
William  Baird,  of  Newbyth,  and  sister  of  the  well-known 
general,  Sir  David  Baird.  Their  eldest  son,  another  George, 
the  subject  of  the  present  memoir,  was  born  at  Edinburgh 
January  28,  1784. 

Lord  Haddo  died  suddenly,  October  2,  1791.  After 
his  death  his  widow  removed  to  England,  taking  with 
her  the  boy  George,  who  received  his  earliest  education  in 
a  school  at  Barnet  (where  Lady  Haddo  lived),  and  subse- 
quently at  Parsons  Green.  Lady  Haddo  never  recovered 
the  shock  of  her  husband's  sudden  death,  and  lived  in 
great  retirement  and  dejection.  She  pined  during  some 
four  years,  and  died  in  1795.  By  her  death  her  children 
were  left  in  a  position  which,  for  their  rank  in  life,  was  one 
of  singular  dreariness  and  isolation.  Lady  Haddo  had  in- 
curred Lord  Aberdeen's  displeasure  by  the  well-grounded 
disapproval  she  had  expressed  of  his  mode  of  life,  and  had 
been  regarded  by  him  with  open  enmity.  He  had  wholly 
neglected,  and  rather  disliked,  a  grandson  whose  interests 
were  incompatible  with  the  object  to  which  all  the  later  years 
of  his  life  were  devoted — the  purchase  of  estates  for  the 
endowment  of  his  numerous  natural  children.      He  had, 


CHILDHOOD  5 

indeed,  been  persuaded,  or  coerced,  by  powerful  friends  to 
send  the  young  Lord  Haddo  to  Harrow,  but  there  his  inter- 
vention ended.  He  would  perform  none  of  the  duties 
towards  his  grandchildren  which  naturally  devolved  on  him, 
and  in  this  condition  of  things  other  relations  appear  to 
have  been  afraid  or  unwilling  to  interfere.  The  boy  George, 
then  between  eleven  and  twelve  years  old,  finding  a  respect- 
ful application  to  his  grandfather  wholly  unheeded,  invoked 
the  intervention  of  Henry  Dundas,  afterwards  Lord  Melville, 
and  at  that  time  all-powerful  in  Scotland.  With  him 
Lord  Haddo  had  been  well  acquainted,  and  to  him  Lady 
Haddo  had  occasionally  turned,  and  not  in  vain,  for  counsel 
and  support.  He  at  once  responded  to  the  boy's  appeal, 
moved,  no  doubt,  by  compassion  for  the  seven  orphan  and 
deserted  children,  the  eldest  of  whom  was  not  twelve  years 
of  age  and  the  youngest  barely  four.  Perhaps  also  he  was 
not  wholly  unmindful  of  the  advantage  of  bringing  under 
his  influence  one  of  the  most  powerful  families  in  the  North 
of  Scotland.  The  young  Lord  Haddo  found  a  home  in 
Dundas's  house,  and  his  only  sister,  Alicia,  lived  for  the 
next  thirty  years,  as  a  daughter,  with  Lady  Jane  Dundas, 
under  whose  maternal  care  all  the  children  for  a  time  came. 
As  the  five  younger  brothers  grew  up,  two,  William  and 
John,  entered  the  navy,  and  both  lived  to  attain  the  rank  of 
admiral.  Two  others,  Alexander  and  Charles,  obtained 
commissions  in  the  army.  Of  these,  the  former  was  a 
favourite  aide-de-camp  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  gave 
early  promise  of  distinction,  being  already  a  lieutenant- 
colonel  and  a  K.C.B.,  when  killed  at  Waterloo  at  the  age 
of  twenty-eight.  Charles  also  became  a  K.C.B.,  and  died 
colonel  of  the  Black  Watch  in  1835.  Of  the  career  of  the 
remaining  brother,  Robert,  who  entered  the  diplomatic 
service,  we  shall  hear  more  in  the  later  part  of  this  volume, 


6  LORD   ABERDEEN 

There  was  no  more  frequent  visitor  at  Dundas's  Wim- 
bledon villa  than  Mr.  Pitt.  He  from  the  first  evinced  the 
keenest  interest  in  the  young  Lord  Haddo,  and  that  interest 
continually  increased  as  the  boy  grew  older.  Meanwhile 
his  education  was  not  neglected.  At  Harrow  he  devoted 
himself  chiefly  to  Greek  scholarship,  in  which  he  obtained 
distinction.  He  was  a  quiet  and  studious  boy,  taking  little 
part  in  the  games  of  the  school.  But  he  was  an  omnivorous 
reader,  and  before  he  left  Harrow  he  possessed  a  better 
acquaintance  with  the  Italian  poets  than  most  men  acquire 
in  a  lifetime.  He  had  also  read  a  large  portion  of  such 
works  relative  to  the  modern  history  of  Europe  as  were 
then  attainable.  Among  his  schoolfellows  and  friends  were 
many  of  those  more  or  less  associated  with  his  subsequent 
career. 

When  the  boy  reached  the  age  of  fourteen  he  availed 
himself  of  the  right  given  by  the  Scotch  law  to  one  of  that 
age  to  name  his  own  '  curators  '  or  guardians.  He  nominated 
in  that  capacity  Mr.  Pitt,  then  Prime  Minister,  and  Henry 
Dundas.  They  accepted  the  charge,  and  thenceforward 
the  lad  lived  with  them  alternately.  He  and  Lady  Hester 
Stanhope  were  the  only  young  inmates  of  Mr.  Pitt's  house, 
and  it  is  significant  that  in  the  '  Memoirs  of  Lady  Hester 
Stanhope,'  as  recorded  by  her  doctor.  Lord  Aberdeen  is 
never  mentioned.  Had  she  not  retained  at  the  bottom  of 
her  heart  some  lurking  kindness  for  the  companion  of  her 
early  years,  he  would  hardly  have  escaped  that  merciless 
outpouring  of  misanthropical  satire  which  she  so  freely 
bestowed  on  all  other  acquaintances  of  her  youth,  save  her 
brothers  and  Sir  John  Moore. 

When  the  time  drew  near  for  his  leaving  Harrow,  Lord 
Haddo  proposed  to  continue  his  studies  at  the  University  of 
Cambridge.     He  met  with  an  unlooked-for  obstacle  in  the 


HARROW   AND   CAMBRIDGE  7 

positive  refusal  of  his  grandfather  to  furnish  him  with  the 
means  of  indulging  what  he  deemed  a  needless  extravagance. 
Lord  Haddo's  curators  were,  however,  of  a  different  mind, 
and  Lord  Haddo  himself,  as  Mr.  Pitt  tersely  informed  Lord 
Aberdeen,  '  did  not  concur  with  his  lordship  in  considering 
that  rank  superseded  the  necessity  for  education.'  From  a 
letter  written  by  Lord  Melville  it  appears  that  the  curators 
threatened  Lord  Aberdeen  that,  if  he  would  not  provide  for 
his  grandson's  education  and  other  wants,  they  would  them- 
selves advance  what  was  required  from  their  own  personal 
funds.  Whether  Lord  Aberdeen  submitted  to  the  disgrace 
of  allowing  them  to  do  so,  or  listened  to  wiser  counsels,  I 
am  not  aware,  but  at  all  events  Lord  Haddo  entered  at 
St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  in  June  1800.  His  grand- 
father died  in  the  following  year.  At  that  time  not  only 
did  the  vicious  practice  of  granting  degrees  to  noblemen 
without  examination  prevail,  but  they  were  actually  pre- 
cluded from  presenting  themselves  for  examination,  even 
when  desirous  of  so  doing.  The  industry  or  idleness  of  a 
young  peer  consequently  depended  wholly  on  himself. 
Lord  Aberdeen,  however,  did  not  require  any  external 
stimulus  to  work.  He  read  largely  during  his  stay  at 
Cambridge,  and  while  there  collected  a  fine  library,  con- 
sisting chiefly  of  early  or  rare  editions  of  the  classics  and 
of  early  Italian  poetry.  He  pursued  his  Greek  studies,  and 
made  himself  a  good  Latinist.  But  his  inclination  led  him 
to  the  study  of  modern  history  and  to  bypaths  of  literature, 
especially  that  of  the  Renaissance.  In  his  correspondence 
with  his  friend,  Hudson  Gurney,  I  find  such  passages  as  the 
following  : 

April  18,  1802. — I  waited  till  I  had  read  over  again  the 
poem  '  De  Immortalitate  Animi,'  which  I  thought  was  by  Vida, 
but  I  find  the  author  is  Aonius  Palearius,  his  intimate  friend  and 
pupil.     The  composition  possesses,  no  doubt,  great  merit,  but 


8  LORD  ABERDEEN 

I  do  not  think  it  would  repay  the  time  given  up  to  translate  it. 
The  only  books  of  Vida  of  any  importance  are  the  '  Christiad,' 
translated  tolerably  by  a  Mr.  Thomson  ;  the  '  Scacchia  Ludus,' 
well  done  by  Murphy  ;  and  the  '  Bombyces,'  which,  so  far  as 
I  know,  is  not  translated  at  all.  Many  parts  of  it  are  extremely 
beautiful,  and  it  abounds  with  lively  and  picturesque  descrip- 
tion, but  I  am  bold  to  say,  if  I  were  you,  I  would  not  undertake 
its  translation.  ...  I  will  in  some  sort  defend  Vida  when  we 
meet,  but  meanwhile  do  you  read  Sannazarius.  You  will  be 
pleased  with  him,  and  also  with  Fracastorius.  You  mentioned 
you  had  been  translating  Propertius.  Do  send  me  a  packet ; 
you  shall  have  my  sincere  opinions  and  humble  addenda  and 
corrigenda.  Have  you  translated  those  eight  lines  from  the 
elegy  in  the  second  book  where  he  relates  that  he  dreamed 
Cynthia  was  shipwrecked  ?  I  do  not  mention  the  number  of 
the  elegy,  for  I  have  only  an  Aldus  edition,  where  they  are 
very  badly  arranged,  and  often  not  separated  at  all.  I  think 
them  very  pretty. 

These,  it  must  be  remembered,  are  the  familiar  letters  ot 
a  lad  of  eighteen  to  a  friend  little  older,  not  the  notes  of  a 
recluse  scholar.  How  many  undergraduates  of  the  present 
day  have  read  Vida,  or  know  that  such  a  writer  ever  ex- 
isted ?  It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  their  ignorance 
involves  no  great  loss. 

Lord  Aberdeen's  chief  friends  at  Cambridge  were  Lord 
Royston,  whose  early  death  Lord  Aberdeen  always  regarded 
as  a  grave  public  misfortune,  and  a  young  Fellow  of  St. 
John's,  the  Rev.  G.  Whittington,  one  of  the  earhest  intelligent 
admirers  and  students  of  Gothic  architecture,  on  which,  as 
it  exists  in  the  North  of  France,  he  wrote  a  volume,  not  per- 
haps altogether  meriting  the  oblivion  which  has  overtaken 
it.  Another  of  his  closest  intimates  was  Hudson  Gurney,  a 
member  of  the  great  Quaker  family  of  that  name,  but  him- 
self a  Churchman.  Very  rich  and  very  benevolent,  but 
having  no  sufficient  stimulus  to  exertion,  Mr.  Gurney's  fine 
abilities  were  to  a  great  extent  squandered  on  dilettante 
pursuits,  which,  while  they  occupied  him,  he  affected — not 
perhaps  untruly — to  despise.    His  intimacy  and  correspond- 


TRAVELS   ON    THE   CONTINENT  9 

ence  with  Lord  Aberdeen,  whom  he  survived,  lasted  over 
sixty  years.  That  singular  genius,  Henry  Drummond,  not 
unlike  Gurney  in  his  fine  taste,  keen  perceptions,  and  con- 
templative rather  than  active  attitude  in  life,  but  very  unlike 
him  in  most  other  points,  was  also  one  of  those  with  whom 
Lord  Aberdeen  was  in  most  intimate  relations. 

The  Peace  of  Amiens  reopened  the  Continent  to  Eng- 
Hsh  travellers,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1802  Lord  Aberdeen 
visited  Paris.  Young  though  he  was,  one  so  nearly  con- 
nected with  Mr,  Pitt,  even  though  the  great  minister  was  at 
the  moment  out  of  office,  was  not  a  person  to  be  neglected, 
and  he  was  the  object  of  much  attention.  Lord  Aberdeen 
dined  several  times  at  Malmaison,  almost  in  private,  and  had 
much  conversation  with  the  First  Consul,  whose  genius  and 
career  had  captivated  his  imagination,  and  by  whose  singular 
beauty  he  was  fascinated.  I  have  often  heard  him  say  that 
Napoleon's  smile  was  the  most  winning  he  ever  saw,  and  that 
his  eye  was  wholly  unlike  that  of  any  other  man.  He  pro- 
ceeded on  the  ordinary  tour  through  the  South  of  France  to 
Italy,  and  whilst  at  Florence  spent  some  interesting  evenings 
at  the  house  of  the  Pretender's  widow,  the  Countess  of  Albany. 
At  one  end  of  the  room  sat  the  Countess  with  her  bevy  of 
visitors;  at  the  other,  cloaked  and  hatted,  sat  Alfieri,  alone,  and 
apparently  unnoticed  by  the  little  court  around  the  Countess. 
To  him  Lord  Aberdeen  ventured  to  address  himself,  and  the 
poet  found  in  him  an  acquaintance  with  Italian  literature 
and  a  facility  in  the  use  of  the  language  to  which  he  was  not 
accustomed  in  British  visitors.  Contrary  to  his  usual  custom 
he  entered  readily  into  conversation,  and  encouraged  Lord 
Aberdeen  to  return  for  its  renewal  on  subsequent  days. 

But  a  visit  to  the  more  civilised  parts  of  Europe  did  not 
content  Lord  Aberdeen.  Full  of  the  Greek  classics,  he  was 
bent  on  travelling  in  the  Levant,  and  at  length  extorted  frorn 


lO  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Mr.  Pitt  and  Lord  Melville  a  somewhat  reluctantly  accorded 
permission  to  do  so. 

At  Malta,  Lord  Aberdeen  joined  the  new  British  Am- 
bassador to  the  Porte,  Mr.  Drummond,  and  accompanied 
him  to  Constantinople.  The  Embassy  pursued  its  way  in 
the  most  leisurely  manner,  touching  at  almost  every  island 
of  the  ^gean  in  its  route.  After  at  length  reaching  Con- 
stantinople Lord  Aberdeen  spent  some  time  there,  and 
then,  having  obtained  the  necessary  firmans,  left  the 
Embassy,  and  proceeded  on  a  prolonged  journey  through 
Greece  and  Asia  Minor.  Travelling  in  the  Levant  was  not 
then  the  easy  matter  it  now  is,  and  Lord  Aberdeen's  wander- 
ings were  attended  with  much  hardship  and  not  infrequent 
danger.  After  a  considerable  stay  at  Athens,  during  which 
he  rediscovered  and  excavated  the  Pnyx,  he  crossed  over  to 
Smyrna,  and  thence  visited  Ephesus  and  other  points  in 
Asia  Minor.  He  returned  to  Greece  and  very  thoroughly 
explored  the  Morea  and  Albania,  then  seldom  visited  by 
Englishmen.  Passing  over  from  thence  to  Corfu,  he 
returned  home  after  an  absence  of  two  years,  by  way  of 
Dalmatia,  Venice,  Vienna,  and  the  North  of  Germany. 
During  his  travels  in  the  East,  Lord  Aberdeen  kept  a  care- 
ful and  often  very  copious  journal,  from  which,  were  my 
space  less  limited,  I  could  have  desired  to  make  some  ex- 
tracts. His  conversations  with  Sir  Alexander  Ball  at  Malta 
are  there  recorded  with  great  minuteness,  and  are  of  much 
interest,  as  is  also  his  account  of  an  audience  of  the  Sultan 
Selim.  His  visits  to  sites  then  all  but  unknown  in  the  Pelo- 
ponnesus and  Epirus  are  carefully  recorded,  and  with  the 
notes  made  by  him  of  the  then  condition  of  the  Parthenon, 
and  of  his  excavations  at  Ephesus,  Athens,  and  many 
other  places,  possess  considerable  archaeological  value, 
as   do   also   the  careful  copies   taken   by   him   of  a   very 


RETURN    TO   ABERDEENSHIRE  II 

large  number  of  inscriptions,  many  of  which  have  since 
disappeared. 

Not  the  least  curious  incident  related  in  this  journal  is 
his  reception  by  xA.li  Pasha,  of  Janina,  who  spoke  to  him 
freely  of  his  aims,  and  entrusted  him  with  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Pitt,  whose  support  the  Pasha  was  eager  to  obtain  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  ambitious  projects. 

After  his  return  to  England,  in  1804,  Lord  Aberdeen 
lived,  as  before,  with  Mr.  Pitt  and  Lord  Melville,  until  he 
attained  his  majority.  This  he  did  on  January  28,  1805. 
On  that  occasion  he  went  down  to  Haddo  House  to  take 
possession  of  his  estates  and  receive  the  congratulations  of 
his  tenants  and  neighbours.  He  had  not  revisited  Aber- 
deenshire since  he  left  it  as  a  child  of  eight  years  old, 
with  a  child's  illusions  as  to  the  surroundings  of  a  home 
which  has  been  his  world.  He  was  wholly  unprepared  for 
the  rough  awakening  which  awaited  him,  and  on  the  rare 
occasions  on  which  he  could  be  induced  to  speak  of  his 
own  early  days,  he  dwelt  with  great  force  on  the  sensations 
he  experienced  when  brought  face  to  face  with  the  reality 
before  him.  The  backward  condition  of  agriculture,  the 
miserable  dwellings  and  half-savage  habits  of  the  people, 
the  ignorance  and  coarseness  of  the  gentry,  the  inclemency 
of  the  climate,  the  ugliness  and  monotony  of  the  country 
— bare,  undulating,  and  treeless — were  all  very  unlike  his 
dreams,  and  filled  him  with  dismay.  Wild  ideas  of  breaking 
the  entail  and  disposing  of  the  property  gave  way  before 
the  consciousness  that  it  was  impossible  to  realise  them. 
They  were  succeeded  by  intentions  of  permanent  ab- 
senteeism, and  it  was  not  until  after  days  of  mental  conflict 
that  his  eagerness  to  escape  gave  place  to  the  conviction 
that  it  was  his  duty  not  to  abandon  but  to  improve  the 
territorial  possessions  to  which  he  owed  his  place  in  the 


12  LORD   ABERDEEN 

world  ;  not  to  desert  those  living  under  his  influence,  but 
to  aid  them  in  their  progress  upward  to  civilisation  and 
comfort.  Having  adopted  this  conviction,  he  did  not 
shrink  from  the  duties  it  imposed.  He  drained,  he  planted, 
he  built.  Tracts  of  moorland  became  fields  of  corn,  new 
schools  rose  in  every  parish,  new  buildings  on  every  farm. 
Few  knew  the  sacrifice  of  tastes  and  inclination  involved  in 
his  adoption  of  Haddo  as  an  habitual  summer  residence. 
For  many  years  it  was  in  the  highest  degree  repugnant  to 
him.     But  in  spite  of  inclination  he  persevered. 

Something  of  the  dismay  he  felt  may  be  traced  in  a  letter 
to  Hudson  Gurney,  written  from  Haddo  three  or  four  days 
after  his  majority.  After  telling  him  that  he  had  '  feasted 
about  eight  or  nine  hundred  neighbours,  as  well  as  the  prin- 
cipal gentlemen  of  the  county,' and  had  been  '  immersed,  not 
in  Greek  '  (as  Gurney  supposed),  '  but  in  Port  and  Claret ' ; 
he  adds  :  '  Greece  is  before  my  eyes  :  my  right  hand  points 
to  India,  and  my  left  to  St.  Petersburg.  ...  I  am  confined 
to  the  house  by  a  sore  throat  and  cough.  If  I  were 
stretched  at  ease  under  the  shadowy  branches  of  the  olive 
grove  on  the  banks  of  the  Ilissus,  it  would  do  more  than 
all  remedies.  After  your  severe  illness,  the  mild  sun  of 
Italy  and  Greece  will  surely  tempt  you  to  desert  our  cold 
and  cheerless  sky.' 

The  scene  before  him  was  certainly  '  cold  and  cheer- 
less.' The  short  lime  avenue  before  the  house  terminated 
in  a  dreary  and  extensive  peat-moss,  which  lay  stretched 
between  it  and  the  grim  high  walls  of  a  distant  deer  park. 
Snipe  were  to  be  shot  in  the  marshy  swamp  which  reached 
to  the  foot  of  the  garden  terrace.  Stacks  of  fuel  and  sheds 
of  lumber  were  piled  against  the  walls  of  the  house  itself, 
the  'appalling  badness'  of  which,  he  wrote,  was  'only 
equalled  by  the  desolation  of  the  exterior.'     The  neigh- 


LORD  ABERCORN  I  3 

bouring  lairds,  not  excluding  the  few  peers  who  lived  almost 
wholly  in  the  county,  were  uneducated  and  boorish,  and 
had  little  in  common  with  '  Athenian  Aberdeen.' 

Though  now  of  age,  and  his  own  master.  Lord  Aberdeen 
continued  to  live  chiefly  with  Mr.  Pitt,  and  his  entrance 
into  society  was  effected  under  the  auspices  of  Mr.  Pitt's 
friends  and  those  of  Lord  Melville  and  the  Duchess  of 
Gordon.  Among  those  to  whose  notice  Lord  Aberdeen 
was  specially  commended  by  Mr,  Pitt  was  John  James, 
Marquess  of  Abercorn,  a  man  who  never  sitting  in  a 
Cabinet  or  accepting  office,  nevertheless  by  virtue  of  the 
possession  of  rank  and  wealth,  at  the  command  of  shrewd 
ability,  exercised  no  inconsiderable  influence  on  affairs, 
and  was  consulted  by  ministers  and  by  the  sovereign. 
In  his  youth  Lord  Abercorn's  accession  to  the  title  had 
not  been  anticipated,  but  his  handsome  person,  his  great 
strength,  and  the  boldness  and  frequency  of  his  adventures 
of  gallantry  had  made  him  at  an  early  age  a  marked  figure 
in  society.  Mr.  Pitt  had  a  very  high  opinion  of  his  talents, 
and,  according  to  Walter  Scott,  declared  that  had  Lord 
Abercorn  remained  a  commoner  he  would  have  become 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  speakers  of  the  lower  house. 
As  a  peer  he  was  remarkable  for  pride  and  stateliness,  but 
in  the  brilliant  society  which  he  gathered  round  him 
literature  and  art  held  at  least  as  high  a  place  as  rank  and 
power.  The  imperious  owner  of  Bentley  Priory  and  those 
who  habitually  assembled  there  have  been  sketched  by  Sir 
Walter  Scott  in  a  now  forgotten  article  of  the  '  Quarterly 
Review.'  The  picture  is  an  attractive  one.  The  Sheridans, 
Walter  Scott  himself,  Lawrence  the  painter,  Kemble  the 
actor,  Payne  Knight  the  antiquary,  were  among  the  most 
constant  and  familiar  guests,  and  to  Lord  Aberdeen  the 
Priory  soon  became  almost  a  home. 


14  LORD  ABERDEEN 

After  what  has  been  said  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  studious 
habits,  the  reader  may  be  surprised  to  learn  that  one  of  his 
favourite  recreations  while  at  Cambridge  was  acting.  Silent, 
shy,  and  sensitive,  the  personation  of  another  seemed  to  give 
him  a  confidence  which  naturally  he  did  not  possess.  On 
one  occasion  he  and  two  friends  presented  themselves 
under  assumed  names  to  the  manager  of  the  theatre  at 
Canterbury,  and  were  engaged  by  him  to  perform  the 
principal  parts  in  Shakespeare's  tragedy  of  *  King  John.' 
Their  success  was  complete,  and  the  manager  showed  anxiety 
to  retain  them  in  his  company,  offering  Lord  Aberdeen  a 
liberal  salary  if  he  would  only  enter  into  an  engagement  for 
the  entire  season.  Lord  Aberdeen  was  therefore  a  welcome 
recruit  for  the  private  theatre  at  the  Priory.  I  have  now 
before  me  the  cast  of  the  characters  for  several  of  the  pieces 
performed  there.  It  is  remarkable  in  that  for  the  tragedy  of 
*  Oronoko,'  in  which  there  are  but  eleven  male  parts,  I  have 
found  among  the  actors  two  Prime  Ministers  (Lord  Aber- 
deen and  Lord  Melbourne),  two  Ambassadors  at  Vienna 
(Sir  R.  Gordon  and  Lord  Beauvale),  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence, 
and  Mr.  T.  Sheridan. 

The  eldest  daughter  of  Lord  Abercorn,  Lady  Catherine 
Hamilton,  was  one  of  those  bright  and  rare  beings  who 
seem  rather  to  rest  on  the  earth's  surface  than  to  belong  to  it. 
Her  graceful  form,  full  of  restless  life,  her  stately  bearing  and 
eager  passionate  face  have  been  preserved  to  us  by  Law- 
rence in  more  than  one  of  his  most  pleasing  works.  But 
though  the  fire  and  animation  of  the  mobile  features  are 
shown  upon  his  canvas,  it  is  evident  that  their  beauty, 
great  as  it  is,  must  have  been  enhanced  by  the  constant 
play  of  varying  expression  over  them  :  the  Lampeggtar  delV 
angelico  riso  which  goes  so  far  to  form  love's  paradise.  To 
his  friends,  Lawrence  whispered  that  his  fortune  would  have 


LADY   CATHERINE   HAMILTON  1 5 

been  made  if  he  could  have  dared  to  paint,  as  the  embodi- 
ment of  scorn,  her  attitude  and  expression,  as  with  half- 
averted  head  and  outstretched  arm  she  allowed  the  Princess 
of  Wales  to  fasten  an  armlet  above  her  elbow.  Many  of 
her  letters  to  her  father  have  been  preserved,  which  show 
the  bright  and  sportive  joyousness  of  her  character  ;  but  it 
had  also  a  stronger  side.  With  her  Lord  Aberdeen  fell 
passionately  in  love,  and  she  with  him.  There  was  nothing 
to  impede  his  suit,  and  they  were  married  July  28, 
1805.  Lord  Aberdeen  worshipped  her  with  the  most 
ardent  devotion,  and  found  in  her  society  a  happiness  he 
had  never  known  or  imagined,  which  was  all  the  more 
appreciated  from  its  contrast  to  his  previous  solitary  and 
forlorn  condition.  Kind  as  his  guardians  had  been,  the 
dependence  on  strangers  had  been  bitter  to  him.  He  had 
known  no  home,  none  on  whom  freely  to  lavish  his  strong 
affection,  and  he  had  early  learned  to  repress  all  outward 
signs  of  feeling.  For  a  few  short  years  his  happiness  was 
now  brilliant  and  unclouded.     It  was  then  lost  for  ever. 

Lord  Aberdeen's  marriage  made  no  difference  in  his 
relations  with  Mr.  Pitt.  The  impeachment  of  Lord  Melville 
and  his  removal  from  office  had  deprived  Lord  Aberdeen  of 
one  powerful  friend,  but  Mr.  Pitt's  solicitude  on  his  behalf 
was  only  increased  thereby.  Mr.  Pitt  lived  at  this  time 
at  Bowling  Green  House,  Putney,  and  at  his  request  the 
young  couple  took  up  their  residence  at  Lord  Melville's 
villa  at  Wimbledon,  which  was  lent,  or  let,  by  him  to  Lord 
Aberdeen. 

Under  the  auspices  of  the  all-powerful  minister,  Lord 
Aberdeen's  prospects  of  early  distinction  were  of  the 
brightest  character.  He  was  promised  an  English  peerage 
during  the  ensuing  session,  and  no  doubt  existed  of  his 
early  entrance   into   high   office.     But  Mr.  Pitt's  life   was 


1 6  LORD  ABERDEEN 

drawing  towards  its  close,  and  on  January  23,  1806,  he 
expired.  Lord  Aberdeen  writes  thus  in  a  diary  which  he 
commenced  the  following  day  : 

Ja7i.  24,  1806. — I  received  on  the  evening  of  the  22nd  a 
note  from  Lord  Melville  intimating  that  his  death  might  be 
expected  ;  and  on  the  morning  of  the  23rd  I  was  informed  that 
he  was  no  more,  having  expired  at  a  quarter-past  four  that 
morning.  From  my  having  lived  with  him  on  terms  of  the 
utmost  intimacy  from  my  childhood,  from  his  having  been  my 
guardian,  and  from  his  constant  affection  for  me,  the  dismay 
and  affliction  I  suffered,  and  still  do  suffer,  being  absorbed  in 
individual  feeling,  render  me  comparatively  callous  and  in- 
sensible to  considerations  of  a  public  nature.  Yet  the  idea  is 
dreadful.  Lord  Melville  breakfasted  with  me  this  morning  on 
his  return  to  Bath.  He  embraced  me  with  tears,  and  for  some 
time  could  not  speak.  We  at  last  expatiated  on  the  dreadful 
calamity  which  we  and  the  country  had  sustained.  I  never 
witnessed  grief  more  poignant ;  he  almost  wished  a  general 
apathy  to  come  upon  him  as  the  only  relief,  and  declared  that, 
if  he  lived  a  hundred  years,  it  would  be  impossible  to  remain 
an  hour  without  having  the  image  of  Mr.  Pitt  in  his  mind.  He 
was  glad  to  hasten  out  of  this  house,  where  every  object  recalled 
him. 

To  his  friend  Whittington  he  wrote  on  the  same  day  : 

Mr.  Pitt  is  no  more.  The  country  has  lost  its  only  support 
in  this  dreadful  time  of  disasters,  and  I  have  lost  the  only  friend 
to  whom  I  looked  up  with  unbounded  love  and  admiration. 
Why  are  you  absent  ?  Not  that  I  can  tell  you  anything,  but 
Lord  Melville  was  here  this  morning  in  absolute  despair. 
Everybody  in  the  streets  looks  as  if  they  had  lost  a  father  and 
protector  ;  and  they  are  right,  for  so  they  have.  He  was 
sensible  till  a  short  time  before  he  died,  which  he  did  with 
perfect  resignation.  He  continued,  when  senseless,  to  talk, 
and  wished  to  write  to  the  Foreign  Office  and  the  Treasury. 
But  why  do  I  expatiate  on  anything  so  distressing  !  To  think 
that  I  am  now  writing  at  a  table  where  I  have  seen  him  a 
thousand  times,  and  how  seen  him  ! — is  indeed  agony. 

A  few  days  later  he  writes  from  London  : 

Great  as  my  distress  has  been,  I  have  been  obliged  to  con- 
sole others.  Lady  Melville  is  in  despair  at  the  situation  of 
Lord  Melville.  I,  who  know  the  strength  of  his  mind  and  of 
his  nerves,  am  able  to  estimate  the  misery  of  his  condition, 
when  he  declares  that  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  looks  in 
vain  for  any  resource  within  himself.  We  are  come  here  for  a 
few  days,  but  mean  very  soon  to  return  to  Wimbledon.     I  am 


PROPOSES   TO   STAND   FOR   CAMBRIDGE  1 7 

much  more  composed  since  I  left  it,  for  there  every  object 
tended  to  provoke  grief.  Being  so  near  the  spot  where  he  Hved, 
my  imagination  pictured  him  before  my  eyes  the  whole  night, 
and  totally  deprived  me  of  sleep  while  I  staid. 

Lord  Aberdeen  was  impatient  to  take  his  place  in 
Parliament.  The  English  peerage,  which  he  had  been 
led  to  anticipate,  was  now  no  longer  attainable.  Was  it 
impossible  that  he  should  obtain  a  seat  in  the  House  of 
Commons  ?  Peers,  though  disqualified  from  voting  at  other 
elections,  did  not  consider  themselves  forbidden  to  do  so 
at  those  of  Members  for  the  Universities.  Lord  Aberdeen 
argued  that,  not  being  a  Peer  of  Parliament,  he  must  be 
qualified  to  represent  a  constituency  in  which  he  was 
qualified  to  vote,  and  he  proposed  to  offer  himself  as  a 
candidate  for  the  seat  vacated  by  Mr.  Pitt.  The  transaction 
is  thus  recorded  in  his  diary  : 

Jan.  25. — I  received  a  letter  from  Henry  Petty  informing 
me  of  his  intention  of  offering  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  and  requesting  my  vote.  In  answer 
I  told  him  that,  if  I  possessed  a  vote,  the  same  qualification 
would  probably  enable  me  to  offer  myself,  which  in  that  case 
I  certainly  should  do. 

Jan.  26. — My  express  returned  from  Cambridge,  and  brought 
me  the  good  wishes  of  the  University,  and  regrets,  which  I 
really  believe  to  be  sincere,  at  my  inability  to  offer  myself.  Dr. 
Turner,  Mr.  Pitt's  old  master,  and  at  present  Vice-Chancellor, 
wrote  in  particular  to  say  that  I  should  have  had  his  cordial 
support.  Had  it  been  possible  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  my 
success. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Pitt  and  the  disgrace  of  Lord  Melville 
of  course  materially  affected  Lord  Aberdeen's  position,  but 
he  was  still  regarded  as  a  young  man  certain  to  rise,  even 
without  the  adventitious  aids  which  he  had  lost.  Canning 
offered  him  in  1807  the  Embassy  to  Sicily,  then  a  post  of 
considerable  importance,  which,  however,  he  dechned,  unless 
allowed  the  same  control  over  the  Sicilian  Government 
which  had  till  then  been  exercised  by  the  British  Ambas- 
sador, but  which  it  was  now  intended  to  discontinue.      At 

c 


1 8  LORD   ABERDEEN 

the  first  dissolution  of  Parliament  which  followed  his  majority 
he  was  elected  one  of  the  sixteen  representative  peers  of 
Scotland,  and  in  1808,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  he  received 
the  ribbon  of  the  Thistle.  In  the  following  year  he  refused 
the  Embassy  to  Russia,  the  offer  of  which  to  so  young  a 
man  speaks  highly  of  the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held. 
Nor  was  he  regarded  as  a  man  likely  to  be  conspicuous  in 
public  Hfe  only.  He  obtained  yet  more  consideration 
from  his  artistic  tastes,  knowledge,  and  literary  culture. 
The  excavator  of  the  Pnyx  was  speedily  elected  to  the 
Presidency  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries.  He  became  a 
Trustee  of  the  British  Museum,  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society,  and  a  leading  member  of  all  associations  for 
the  promotion  of  art  and  literature.  He  wrote  in  the 
'  Edinburgh  Review,'  and  though  not  a  frequent  speaker  in 
the  House  of  Lords,  took  part  in  all  the  more  intimate 
discussions,  out  of  Parliament,  of  Mr.  Pitt's  remaining 
political  friends.  But  in  truth  he  was  too  much  engrossed 
by  domestic  life  to  care  very  deeply  for  public  employment 
or  affairs.  The  happiness  of  his  home  was  enhanced  by  the 
birth  of  three  daughters — Jane,  Caroline  and  Alice,  born 
in  1807  and  the  two  following  years.  A  son  born  in  18 10 
survived  his  birth  only  a  few  hours.  In  that  year,  Lady 
Aberdeen,  always  delicate,  began  to  droop,  and  after  a 
long  illness,  during  which  Lord  Aberdeen  watched  and 
nursed  her  with  the  closest  and  most  unremitting  atten- 
tion, she  expired  on  February  29,  181 2.  With  her  the  sun- 
shine went  out  of  his  life  for  ever.  From  the  day  of  her 
funeral  to  that  of  his  own  death,  nearly  fifty  years  later,  he 
constantly  wore  mourning  for  her.  For  more  than  a  year 
he  kept  a  record  in  Latin  of  her  almost  daily  appearance  to 
him  in  visions.  '  Vidi,'  '  Vidi,  sed  obscuriorem  ; '  *  Verissima 
dulcissima  imago  ; '  '  Tota  nocte  vidi,  ut  in  viti, ;  '  Verissima 


DEATH   OF   LADY   ABERDEEN  tg 

tristissima  imago,'  are  entries  which  continually  recur, 
and  were  only  brought  to  a  close  by  the  stirring  incidents 
of  his  Embassy.  Those  who  knew  him  best  thought  that 
in  the  long  passages  of  Italian  poetry  which  to  the  close  of 
his  life  he  was  wont  to  murmur  half  aloud  to  himself,  he 
was  dwelling  in  fancy  on  his  lost  love,  and  that  his  strong 
preference  for  Petrarch's  sonnets  was  not  due  wholly  to 
the  charm  of  their  versification. 

He  was  now  less  disinclined  than  before  to  accept 
employment  abroad,  but  refused  the  mission  to  the  United 
States  offered  him  in  1812.  Had  he  gone  there  his  con- 
ciliatory character  makes  it  not  improbable  that  he  would 
have  succeeded  in  averting  the  unfortunate  war  which 
followed.  But,  while  declining  to  take  an  active  part  in 
foreign  affairs,  his  attention  was  still  constantly  turned  to 
them.  Hudson  Gurney  having  in  October  181 2  asked  him 
his  opinion  as  to  the  progress  of  events  in  Sicily,  he 
replied  : 

Some  of  the  things  that  have  been  done  appear  to  me 
clearly  good,  but  others  are  rather  doubtful.  To  talk  of  '  giving 
the  British  Constitution,'  as  such^  is  quite  nonsense.  You  must 
first  create  the  people,  the  state  of  society,  the  whole  system 
by  which  the  British  Constitution  is  kept  alive.  Give  the 
people  more  liberty  as  you  see  them  fit  for  it  ;  break  the  power 
of  the  nobles  ;  destroy  commercial  monopoly ;  introduce  justice 
in  taxation  ;  banish  venality  and  corruption  from  the  judicature  ; 
all  by  specific  measures,  as  fast  as  you  please  :  but  to  give  them 
a  fine  sounding  name  will  not  carry  much  real  good  along  with 
it.  The  thing,  if  anything  is  meant  by  it,  must  be  greatly 
modified,  and  by  talking  about  it  difficulties  are  only  created 
which  need  never  have  been  heard  of. 

The  mission  which  he  did  at  length  consent  to  under- 
take will  be  described  in  the  following  chapter, 


c  3 


20  LORD   ABERDEEN 


CHAPTER   II 

EMBASSY    TO    GERMANY 

Lord  Aberdeen  accepts  Embassy  to  Austria — His  Instructions — 
Journey  to  Teplitz — Treaty  with  Austria — Battle  of  Leipsic  — 
Negotiations  at  Frankfort — Advance  to  the  Rhine — Congress  of 
Chatillon—  Peace  of  Paris. 

In  the  spring  of  1813  it  became  probable  that  Austria, 
stimulated  by  the  example  of  Prussia,  would  attempt  to 
shake  off  her  enforced  connection  with  France.  It  was 
an  object  of  the  utmost  moment  to  Great  Britain  that  the 
attitude  to  be  assumed  by  Austria  in  such  an  event  should 
be  one,  not  of  neutrality,  but  of  active  hostility  to  Napoleon. 
Lord  Castlereagh  accordingly  proposed  to  Lord  Aberdeen 
that  he  should  undertake  a  mission  to  Vienna  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  the  co-operation  of  the  Imperial  Court. 
The  offer  was  declined,  partly  on  public  and  partly  on 
private  grounds.  In  July,  however,  '  the  urgency  of  Castle- 
reagh himself,  as  well  as  the  entreaties  of  the  other  ministers/ 
had,  he  wrote  to  Lord  Abercorn,  become  '  so  great  that  it 
would  be  affectation  to  refuse.' 

Austria  had  not  yet  openly  declared  herself,  nor  even 
finally  decided  which  side  to  take  in  the  great  impending 
struggle  which  was  to  determine  the  fate  of  Germany,  and 
it  was  still  possible  that  in  the  end  she  might  be  found 
appearing  as  the  ally  of  France.  Lord  Aberdeen  therefore 
left  England  without  any  ofiEicial  character,  but  armed  with 
the  most  ample  powers,  and  furnished  with  instructions  of  a 


LORD   ABERDEEN  S   INSTRUCTIONS  21 

general  nature  leaving  a  wide  discretion  to  his  action.  He 
was  told  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  English  Cabinet,  no 
peace  would  provide  adequately  for  the  tranquillity  and 
independence  of  Europe,  which  did  not  confine  France 
within  the  limits  of  the  Pyrenees,  the  Alps,  and  the  Rhine  ; 
but  that  if  the  Powers  more  immediately  interested  should 
prefer  a  more  imperfect  arrangement  to  the  risks  of  a  more 
protracted  struggle.  Great  Britain  was  on  certain  conditions 
ready  to  assent  to  such  a  course.  These  conditions  were 
the  fulfilment  of  the  obligations  she  had  already  contracted 
as  to  the  independence  of  Sicily  and  Spain,  and  the  sur- 
render of  Norway  to  Sweden.  Lord  Aberdeen  was  also 
authorised  to  negotiate  with  Murat,  and  to  conclude  a 
treaty  with  him  confirming  him  in  the  possession  of  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  should  his  accession  to  the  allied  cause 
prove  to  be  purchasable  only  at  that  price  ;  but  at  the  same 
time  he  was  told  that  the  restoration  of  Naples  to  the 
Bourbon  family,  and  the  provision  elsewhere  of  an  equi- 
valent dominion  for  Murat,  was  an  alternative  greatly 
preferred  by  the  British  Government. 

In  the  existing  state  of  Europe  Lord  Aberdeen  found 
himself  obliged  to  take  a  circuitous  route  to  reach  the 
headquarters  of  the  allied  armies,  which  he  was  directed  to 
visit  before  proceeding  to  Vienna.  Sailing  from  Yarmouth 
on  August  lo,  in  H.M.S.  Cydnus,  he  landed  at  Gottenburg 
in  Sweden  on  the  14th,  and  traversing  that  country  for 
about  300  miles,  crossed  the  Baltic  from  Ystadt  to  Stral- 
sund,  thence  pursuing  his  still  very  indirect  way  through 
Berlin,  Breslau,  and  Glatz,  to  Prague. 

Lord  Aberdeen's  almost  daily  letters  to  his  sister-in-law, 
Lady  Maria  Hamilton,  give  a  lively  account  of  this  hurried 
journey.  He  describes  the  part  of  Sweden  which  he  tra- 
versed as 


22  LORD   ABERDEEN 

quite  delightful ;  it  is  most  beautifully  wooded,  and  the  ground 
varied,  as  to  form,  in  the  most  agreeable  manner  ;  cultivation 
is  mingled  with  all  the  most  romantic  scenes,  which  produces 
an  effect  to  me  always  peculiarly  charming.  The  woods  are 
chiefly  oak,  alder,  ash,  beech,  and  birch  ;  there  are  also  a  good 
many  fir-trees,  growing  naturally,  but  not  in  any  great  number. 
We  crossed  many  fine  streams,  and  altogether  the  country  is 
not  very  unlike  some  of  the  richest  parts  of  the  Highlands, 
excepting  the  hills,  which  are  small,  and  not  of  a  particularly 
good  form.  The  people  without  exception  appear  to  be  the 
best  humoured  I  ever  saw.  In  passing  through  a  country  so 
rapidly  there  is  not  time  for  much  observation,  but  one  cannot 
be  deceived  in  the  honest  frankness  of  their  appearance.  .  .  . 
The  roads  are  excellent,  and  we  travelled  fast.  My  carriage 
was  drawn  by  half  a  dozen  little  long- tailed  ponies,  that  put  one 
in  mind  of  Cinderella  and  her  attelage. 

After  a  stormy  voyage  across  the  Baltic  in  a  dirty  and 
unseaworthy  Swedish  packet,  and  a  hurried  journey  through 
Pomerania  and  Mecklenburg-Strelitz,  Lord  Aberdeen  and 
his  party  arrived  at  Berlin  between  six  and  seven  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  Monday,  August  24. 

I  had  intended  (wrote  Lord  Aberdeen)  to  take  a  few  hours' 
rest ;  but  observing,  even  at  that  early  hour,  some  appearance 
of  bustle  and  confusion  in  the  town,  I  found  on  inquiry  that  the 
French  army  was  really  approaching.  The  scene  of  agitation 
and  interest  was  soon  at  its  height ;  the  French  army  was 
ascertained  to  be  about  twelve  or  sixteen  English  miles  from 
the  town  ;  the  Crown  Prince  had  taken  up  his  position  near 
Potsdam  ;  an  action  was  now  momentarily  expected  ;  the  noise 
of  cannon  was  heard  ;  nothing  to  be  seen  but  estafettes  arriving 
and  departing  ;  officers  galloping  through  the  streets  ;  crowds 
of  people  collected  in  all  the  public  places  ;  reports,  true  or 
false,  spread  and  collected  with  equal  avidity.  I  never  before 
witnessed  a  scene  of  such  powerful  interest  ;  it  put  me  in  mind 
of  the  state  of  Athens  on  the  approach  of  Philip  to  Chaeronea. 

Notwithstanding  his  natural  desire  to  await  at  Berlin  the 
issue  of  the  apparently  approaching  contest.  Lord  Aberdeen, 
on  being  told  by  General  I'Estocq,  the  commandant,  that 
there  was  little  hope  of  the  city  being  saved,  and  that  in 
the  event  of  the  fall  of  the  capital  his  communication  with 
Frankfort-on-the-Oder  would  be  wholly  cut  off,  considered 


JOURNEY  TO   TEPLITZ  23 

it  his  duty  at  once  to  start  again  upon  his  way.     The  rest 

of  the  journey  was  marked  by  repeated  overturns,  narrow 

escapes  from  French  outposts,  some  Httle  danger  and  much 

discomfort.     On  the  not  unfrequent  occurrence  of  upsets 

the  party  often  had 

to  stand  in  the  rain  for  hours  before  any  assistance  could  be 
procured,  and  which  was  only  afforded  very  unwillingly  ;  we 
then  had  to  sit  in  our  wet  things  in  the  carriage  for  the  rest  of 
the  night.  We  have  more  than  once  spent  the  day  without 
other  food  than  dry  black  bread.  Our  distresses  may  not  be 
very  poetical,  or  read  well  on  paper,  but  I  assure  you  they  are 
serious  enough  in  reality. 

On  his  way  Lord  Aberdeen  heard  successively  that 
the  conferences  at  Prague,  only  entered  into  by  Napoleon 
with  a  view  of  gaining  time,  were  at  an  end ;  that  the 
armistice  had  terminated;  that  Austria  had  declared  war 
with  France  on  August  17;  and  that  the  Emperor  and  his 
minister  were  with  the  army,  the  headquarters  of  which 
were  established  at  Teplitz.  To  this  place,  therefore.  Lord 
Aberdeen's  steps  were  directed,  and  he  arrived  there  on  the 
2nd  of  September. 

The  allied  sovereigns,  their  ministers,  and  the  diplo- 
matic agents  accredited  to  them,  were  all  gathered  together 
at  this  small  Bohemian  town,  which  had  accordingly  become 
'a  focus  of  intrigues,  cabal,  and  tracasserie  of  every  kind.' 
For  miles  around  were  spread  the  hnes  of  the  vast  armies  of 
the  allies,  while  a  large  French  force,  animated  by  the  fre- 
quent presence  of  Napoleon  himself,  occupied  rising  ground 
within  three  miles  of  the  town.  Affairs  of  outposts  were  of 
daily  occurrence,  more  serious  encounters  not  unfrequent, 
and  a  decisive  battle  was  supposed  to  be  impending. 
'  Every  morning  we  pack  up  everything,  ready  to  start  in 
case  they  attack  the  town,'  wrote  Lord  Aberdeen  to  Lady 
Maria. 

All  thought  of  mediation  had,  of  course,  been  aban- 


54  LORD  ABERDEEN 

doned,  nor  was  any  management  longer  necessary  to  bring 
over  Austria  to  the  side  of  allies  with  whose  forces  her 
own  were  already  united.  All  that  remained  was  to  settle 
the  terms  of  concert.  There  was  no  serious  difficulty 
in  the  negotiation  of  such  a  treaty,  which  was  Lord 
Aberdeen's  first  task  at  Teplitz.  It  provided  that  Austria 
should,  until  the  end  of  the  war,  keep  on  foot  an  army  of 
not  less  than  150,000  men,  and  that  Great  Britain  should 
pay  a  subsidy  of  1,000,000/.  in  lieu  of  the  armed  force  which 
could  neither  be  spared  from  Spain  nor  raised  in  addition 
to  the  forces  she  had  already  on  foot.  But  it  at  once 
occurred  to  Lord  Aberdeen  that  he  might  so  take  advantage 
of  the  occasion  as  to  induce  Austria  to  bind  herself  to  pur- 
sue the  war  until  the  objects,  which  Great  Britain  had  most 
at  heart,  had  been  attained,  and  by  thus  pledging  her  to  a 
greater  extent  than  Russia  or  Prussia  yet  were,  might  draw 
on  those  powers  to  follow  her  example.  Austria  had 
already  concluded  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Russia  and 
Prussia,  but  no  obligation  had  been  contracted  to  pursue 
the  war  for  other  objects  than  the  liberation  of  Germany 
and  the  restoration  of  Hanover  to  Great  Britain.  Lord 
Aberdeen  therefore  proposed  to  Count  Metternich  that,  in 
addition  to  the  treaty  of  concert  and  subsidy,  a  treaty  of 
alliance  should  be  entered  into,  containing  engagements 
that  no  peace  with  France  should  be  concluded  which  did 
not  secure  the  complete  independence  of  Spain,  Holland, 
and  Italy.  To  this  Metternich  readily  assented,  and  the 
terms  of  the  treaty  were  finally  arranged  and  settled  at 
Teplitz,  of  which  place  it  bears  the  date,  although  in  fact 
signed  at  Comotau  after  the  removal  thither  of  the 
Imperial  headquarters.  On  this  treaty.  Lord  Aberdeen 
proposed  to  found  a  general  treaty  of  alliance,  to  be  at 
once  signed   by  Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia,  and   to  be 


POSITION    OF   AUSTRIA  25 

subsequently  acceded  to  by  other  powers,  as  they  joined  in 
making  common  cause  against  Napoleon. 

Lord  Aberdeen  arrived  on  the  Continent  sharing  to  a 
great  extent  the  apprehensions  of  the  English  Government, 
which  feared  that  there  would  be  much  difficulty  in  en- 
gaging Austria  heartily  against  Napoleon,  and  believed 
Metternich's  leanings  to  be  altogether  French.  These 
suspicions  were  shared  and  strengthened  by  the  English 
ambassadors  to  Russia  and  Prussia ;  but  Lord  Aberdeen 
soon  perceived  that,  whatever  reluctance  might  have  existed 
(not  unnaturally)  on  the  part  of  the  Emperor  Francis  to  draw 
the  sword  against  his  daughter's  husband,  or  on  the  part  of 
his  minister  to  incur  the  resentment  of  an  enemy  still  so 
formidable,  they  both  clearly  saw  that  in  declaring  war  with 
France  they  had  excited  against  themselves  a  degree  of 
resentment  which  Napoleon  felt  towards  no  other  enemy, 
and  that  in  the  event  of  his  triumph,  they  would  experience 
the  utmost  vengeance  that  it  was  in  his  power  to  inflict. 
This  being  so,  the  complete  overthrow  or  subjugation  of 
Napoleon  was  indispensably  necessary  to  save  Austria  from 
practical  annihilation.  Every  exertion  was  consequently  being 
made  to  extend  the  alliance  and  to  strengthen  the  Imperial 
forces.  But  this  the  English  Government  and  most  of  its 
subordinate  agents  abroad,  who  took  their  cue  from  the 
Foreign  Office,  were  slow  to  perceive,  and  it  was  not  im- 
mediately that  Lord  Aberdeen's  representations  produced 
their  full  effect.  Before  Castlereagh  himself,  however,  had 
left  England,  he  had  become  convinced  that  no  Power  was 
more  in  earnest  than  Austria  in  a  struggle,  success  in  which 
was  essential  to  her  very  existence,  and  that  no  man  was 
more  indifferent  to  the  fate  of  Napoleon  than  his  father- 
in-law. 

Influenced  by  the  feelings  of  suspicion  above  referred 


26  LORD  ABERDEEN 

to,  Lord  Cathcart,  at  the  request  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia, 
had  concealed  from  Count  Metternich  the  fact  that 
England  had  accepted  the  mediation  of  Austria,  and  at  the 
request  of  Lord  Cathcart  and  Count  Nesselrode  Lord 
Aberdeen,  in  his  first  communication  to  Count  Metternich 
of  the  terms  of  peace  desired  by  England,  did  the  same. 
But  reflection  led  him  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  this  course. 
The  friendly  relations  already  established  with  Austria 
appeared  to  invite  confidence,  while  it  was  clear  that  it 
would  be  impossible  long  to  conceal  from  that  Court  what 
was  already  known  to  those  of  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Sweden. 
Lord  Aberdeen  therefore  informed  Metternich  of  what  had 
taken  place,  and  explained  the  reasons  which  had  led  to  the 
suppression  of  the  intended  communication.  Metternich 
received  the  information  with  surprise  but  without  dis- 
pleasure, and  admitted  that  his  conduct  had  been,  in 
appearance,  too  equivocal  to  command  confidence. 

The  headquarters  of  the  allies  remained  at  Teplitz  for 
the  whole  of  September.  During  this  time  the  Austrian 
reinforcements  were  hurried  forward  from  all  parts  of  the 
Empire  with  the  utmost  expedition,  and  by  skilful  negotia- 
tion Bavaria  was  not  only  detached  from  her  alliance  with 
France,  but  engaged  to  employ  an  army  of  30,000  men 
against  Napoleon,  whose  communications  were  thereby 
imperilled  and  the  right  flank  of  his  army  endangered. 
Lord  Aberdeen  did  full  justice  to  the  abiUty  shown  by 
Metternich  in  his  treatment  of  Bavaria,  and  agreed  in  the 
reasoning  which  led  him  to  advise  his  master  to  abstain 
from  resuming  the  Imperial  crown  of  Germany,  as  had 
been  wished  by  Russia,  Prussia,  and  England. 

The  time  spent  by  him  at  Teplitz  enabled  Lord  Aber- 
deen to  take  a  full  survey  of  the  existing  state  of  affairs, 
and   become  well   acquainted  with  the  allied   sovereigns, 


VIEWS  OF  THE  ALLIES  27 

their  generals  and  ministers.  There  was  no  illusion  on 
the  part  of  Austria  as  to  the  vital  nature  of  the  contest  in 
which  she  was  engaged.  That  the  Emperor  of  Russia  was 
equally  resolute  in  his  hostility  to  Bonaparte,  Lord  Aber- 
deen was  disposed  to  believe,  but  the  Russian  generals 
almost  to  a  man  avowed  themselves  tired  of  the  war  and 
anxious  for  its  conclusion.  '  Old  Barclay  de  Tolly,'  he 
wrote,  'talks  of  returning  to  Russia  on  the  most  trifling 
occasions,  if  he  has  a  bad  lodging,  or  anything  else  as 
absurd.'  The  Prince  Royal  of  Sweden,  Bernadotte,  he 
found  bent  solely  on  promoting  his  own  personal  interests, 
without  the  least  regard  to  the  objects  of  the  alliance.  That 
Napoleon  was  almost  certain  to  meet  with  some  crushing 
disaster  before  he  could  withdraw  the  French  armies  from 
Germany,  Lord  Aberdeen  believed,  but  he  nevertheless 
judged  that  the  dissensions  of  the  allied  powers  were  such 
as  to  render  peace  desirable  the  moment  it  could  be  con- 
cluded on  such  terms  as  to  render  its  permanence  probable. 
Metternich  and  Nesselrode  shared  this  view,  but  Prussia, 
animated  by  a  thirst  for  vengeance,  regarded  with  impa- 
tience all  prospects  of  accommodation. 

Magnificent  as  was  the  outward  appearance  of  the  allied 
armies.  Lord  Aberdeen  was  filled  with  dismay  by  the  im- 
mediate discovery  that  jealousy  and  ill-feeling  prevailed  in 
the  highest  degree  among  those  who  composed  them. 

It  is  impossible  (he  wrote  privately  to  Castlereagh  a  few 
days  after  reaching  Teplitz)  to  view  the  state  of  the  fine  army 
by  which  we  are  surrounded,  with  reference  to  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  directed,  without  the  most  lively  concern  and 
apprehension.  Prince  Schwartzenberg,  after  much  difficulty 
and  discussion,  having  been  appointed  Commander-in-Chief, 
is  after  all  placed  in  a  situation  in  which  he  is  invested  with 
scarcely  more  than  nominal  authority.  Of  the  merits  and 
claims  of  Schwartzenberg  I  know  nothing,  but  I  am  quite  sure 
that  no  commander  on  earth  would  prove  efficient  in  the  situa- 
tion in  which  he  is  placed.     The  vigour  of  every  measure  is 


28  LORD   ABERDEEN 

paralysed,  the  wisdom  of  the  most  sagacious  proposition 
rendered  almost  abortive,  by  the  delay  which  is  necessary  to 
procure  the  approbation  of  the  different  sovereigns  and  their 
advisers.  The  movement  made  yesterday  morning  by  the 
greater  part  of  the  Austrian  army  towards  Silesia,  intended  to 
support  Bliicher  by  acting  on  the  right  flank  of  Bonaparte, 
would  have  been  undertaken  eight-and-forty  hours  sooner  had 
it  not  been  for  the  difficulty  of  persuading  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander to  agree  to  the  measure.  The  mutual  discontent  and 
ill-will  existing  in  the  different  armies,  which  have  been  in- 
creased by  the  early  operations  of  the  campaign,  have  arrived 
at  a  considerable  height ;  and  when  at  last  the  Austrians 
marched  separately  yesterday  morning,  it  was  with  a  joy  and 
acclamation  as  if  they  had  obtained  a  victory. 

From  the  first  moment  of  his  arrival  Lord  Aberdeen 
assumed,  or  rather  was  accorded,  a  position  different  from 
that  occupied  by  any  of  the  other  British  diplomatic  agents 
on  the  spot,  or  from  that  of  any  other  minister  accredited 
to  the  Austrian  Court.  This  was  partly  owing  to  his 
having  come  last  from  England,  furnished  with  the  latest 
views  of  the  British  Cabinet.  But  much  must  also  have 
been  due  to  his  own  personal  qualities,  and  especially  to 
that  temper  of  mind  which  enabled  him  without  effort  to 
place  himself  in  the  position  of  those  with  whom  he  was 
negotiating,  and  regard  questions  dispassionately  from  their 
point  of  view — gifts  not  common  among  the  diplomatists 
of  the  time.  At  all  events,  however  it  was  accomplished, 
he  certainly  succeeded  in  acquiring  with  great  rapidity  the 
complete  confidence  both  of  the  Emperor  and  of  his 
minister.     At  an  early  period  of  the  campaign  he  wrote  : 

The  distinction  with  which  I  am  treated  by  the  Emperor 
is  without  any  example  in  the  annals  of  this  proud  Court.  He 
has  insisted  on  my  dining  and  supping  with  him  every  day,  and 
desires  me  to  do  so  through  the  whole  campaign.  I  am 
always  placed  at  his  right  hand,  and  both  in  manner  and  con- 
versation nothing  can  be  more  flattering.  Lord  Pembroke,  or 
any  one  v/ho  has  been  at  Vienna,  will  tell  you  what  a  total 
revolution  of  all  his  habits  this  is.  Metternich  told  me  that 
nothing  of  this  sort  had  ever  been.     I  see  him  in  private  when- 


THE    EMPEROR   FRANCIS  29 

ever  I  please,  and  discuss  everything  in  the  most  unreserved 
manner.  Everybody  told  me  I  should  never  hear  him  speak  a 
word  of  politics. 

It  may  be  that  the  attentions  thus  received  were  not 

without  their  influence  on  Lord  Aberdeen's  estimate  of  the 

character  of  the  Emperor  Francis  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 

it  must  be  remembered  that  the  intimacy  to  which  he  was 

admitted  afforded  him  opportunities  possessed  by  but  few 

of  judging  accurately  of  the  real  man  as  distinguished  from 

his   mere  ordinary  appearance.     Certainly  his   opinion   of 

the  Emperor,  formed  at  the  time,  but  retained  through  life, 

was  a  far  more  favourable  one  than  that  of  many  superficial 

observers.     He  wrote  thus  of  him  at  an  early  stage  in  the 

campaign  : 

His  manner  at  first  is  awkward  and  rather  foolish,  arising 
from  great  diffidence  in  himself,  and  as  foreigners  seldom  know 
more  of  him,  he  has  been  reckoned  weak  and  ignorant ; 
nothing  can  be  more  unjust.  I  find  him  a  man  full  of  know- 
ledge of  every  kind,  a  good  Latin  scholar,  an  excellent  Italian, 
well  acquainted  with  their  authors  and  fond  of  discussing  them, 
and  very  knowing  in  all  the  affairs  of  his  government. 

Lord  Aberdeen  used  similar  language  when  writing  of  the 
Emperor  in  the  Quarterly  Revietv  more  than  thirty  years 
later. 

On  October  5  the  Emperor  moved  to  accompany  the 
allied  armies,  which  had  already  marched  on  Dresden  and 
Leipsic  in  pursuit  of  the  retreating  French,  and  during 
the  whole  of  this  advance  Lord  Aberdeen  was  the  only 
diplomatic  agent  of  any  nation  whom  the  Emperor  kept 
constantly  with  him.  Other  ambassadors  might  be  left  to 
lodge  in  neighbouring  towns,  but  for  Lord  Aberdeen  a  place 
must  always  be  found  in  the  same  village  or  bivouac  as  the 
Emperor.  This  distinction  was  not  without  its  drawbacks, 
and  Lord  Aberdeen  could  sometimes  have  spared  the  atten- 
tion.    In  a  letter  of  October  8  he  complains  of  having  had 


30  LORD  ABERDEEN 

to  relinquish  a  picturesque  and  comfortable  old  house, '  such 
as  you  read  of  in  romances,  and  see  sometimes  repre- 
sented on  the  stage,  very  irregular,  with  many  passages  and 
corners,'  at  Saatz  (in  which  town  the  other  members  of  the 
corps  diplomatique  were  lodged)  for  a  '  delightful  abode, 
consisting  of  one  room,  just  built,  the  walls  not  dry,  and 
without  any  fireplace,'  at  Comotau,  in  order  to  be  with  the 
Emperor. 

The  journey  from  Teplitz  to  Leipsic,  and  from  Leipsic 
to  Frankfort,  was  performed  almost  entirely  on  horseback, 
and  Lord  Aberdeen's  letters  are  full  of  the  picturesque 
scenery  and  incidents  of  the  route.  Metternich,  Pozzo  di 
Borgo,  and  Merfeldt  were  those  who  most  frequently  ac- 
companied him,  especially  Metternich.  One  evening  he 
and  Metternich,  having  started  late,  were  benighted. 

The  road  was  execrable  (he  writes) ;  we  lost  it,  and 
wandered  through  woods  and  fields.  We  were  in  the  great 
Thuringian  forest,  and  were  very  near  passing  the  night  under 
a  fir-tree.  It  was  a  hard  frost,  and  altogether  very  unpleasant. 
At  last  we  discovered  a  wretched  hamlet,  but  found  no  quarters 
there.  After  much  difficulty  we  got  admittance  to  a  hay-loft, 
where  Metternich  and  I  passed  the  night  together. 

Both  Metternich  and  Aberdeen  were  still  young  men. 
Daily  companionship  in  the  stirring  life  of  a  campaign 
ripened  intimacy  between  them  as  years  of  ordinary  diplo- 
matic intercourse  would  not  have  done,  and  before  reaching 
Frankfort  they  had  formed  a  personal  friendship  far  more 
close  than  any  that  usually  springs  from  an  ambassador's 
intercourse  with  the  minister  of  the  Court  to  which  he  is 
accredited. 

Such  a  journey  in  such  company,  and  at  such  a  time, 
doubtless  had  its  charms,  but  the  impression  which  was 
most  deeply  fixed  on  Lord  Aberdeen's  mind  by  the  scenes 
around  him  was  that  of  the  calamities  which  war  entails. 


HORRORS  OF  WAR  3 1 

Only  two  days  after  his  arrival  at  Teplitz  he  wrote  to  Lady 

Maria  : 

The  near  approach  of  war  and  its  effects  are  horrible  beyond 
what  you  can  conceive.  The  whole  road  from  Prague  to  this 
place  was  covered  with  waggons  full  of  wounded,  dead,  and 
dying.  The  shock  and  disgust  and  pity  produced  by  such 
scenes  are  beyond  what  I  could  have  supposed  possible  at  a 
distance.  There  are  near  two  hundred  thousand  men  round 
this  town.  There  is  much  splendour  and  much  animation  in 
the  sight,  but  the  scenes  of  distress  and  misery  have  sunk 
deeper  in  my  mind.     I  have  been  quite  haunted  by  them. 

Nor  was  the  impression  thus  produced  in  any  way 
blunted,  as  with  many  men  it  was,  by  greater  familiarity. 
On  the  contrary,  it  was  only  rendered  more  intense  and 
more  painful  by  every  additional  day's  stay  with  the  army. 

Lord  Aberdeen  though  not  under  fire  during  the  battle 

of  Leipsic,  was  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  and  has  left  an 

interesting  account  of  the  vicissitudes  of  hope  and  fear  felt 

during  its  varied  progress.     He  entered  the  city  on  the  day 

following  the  close  of  the  series  of  battles  which  preceded 

its  capture.     His  letters  from  the  first  moment  of  his  arrival 

at  the  seat  of  war  are,  as  has  just  been  mentioned,  full  of 

the  impression  made  on  him  by  the  sufferings  with  which 

he  was  surrounded,  but  it  was  the  field  of  Leipsic  which 

gave  him  that  abhorrence  of  any  but  defensive  war  which 

he  retained  for  the  remainder  of  his  hfe. 

How  shall  I  describe  (he  writes  to  Lady  Maria)  the  entrance 
to  this  town  ?  For  three  or  four  miles  the  ground  is  covered 
with  bodies  of  men  and  horses — many  not  dead,  wretches 
wounded,  unable  to  crawl,  crying  for  water,  amidst  heaps  of 
putrefying  bodies.  Their  screams  are  heard  at  an  immense 
distance,  and  still  ring  in  my  ears.  The  Hving,  as  well  as  the 
dead,  are  stript  by  the  barbarous  peasantry,  who  have  not 
sufficient  charity  even  to  put  the  miserable  wretches  out  of 
their  pain.  I  will  not  attempt  to  say  more  of  this.  Our  victory 
is  most  complete.  It  must  be  owned  that  a  victory  is  a  fine 
thing,  but  one  should  be  at  a  distance  to  appreciate  it. 

At  Leipsic  Lord  Aberdeen  received  a  mail  from  England, 


32  LORD   Ar>ERDEEN 

and  had  the  satisfaction  of  finding  that  he  had,  as  to  two 
important  subjects,  anticipated  the  wishes  of  his  Govern- 
ment. Lord  Castlereagh's  letters  expressed  uneasiness  at  the 
concealment  of  the  acceptance  of  the  Austrian  mediation, 
and  directed  the  negotiation  of  a  general  treaty  of  alliance. 
During  the  short  halt  of  the  allied  forces  at  Leipsic  an 
incident  occurred  which  I  should  prefer  to  pass  over  in 
silence,  but  which,  as  a  conspicuous  instance  of  Lord  Aber- 
deen's placabiHty  and  command  of  temper  even  at  that  com- 
paratively early  period  of  his  life,  I  cannot  omit  to  notice. 
General  Count  Merfeldt  was  taken  prisoner  during  the 
battle.  He  was  brought  before  Napoleon,  with  whom  he 
had  a  most  important  conversation,  in  which  the  French 
Emperor  stated  the  sacrifices  he  was  willing  to  make  for 
peace.  General  Merfeldt,  who  was  released  on  parole, 
detailed  the  interview  to  Sir  Robert  Wilson,  who,  '  writing 
under  shell  fire,'  forwarded  full  notes  of  it  to  Lord  Aber- 
deen. This  important  missive  was  entrusted  to  Sir  Robert 
Wilson's  aide-de-camp,  an  honest  blundering  officer,  very 
eager  to  be  back  in  the  thick  of  the  battle,  and  very  sulky 
at  being  sent  off  the  field,  as  an  estafette,  during  its  progress. 
Coming  across  another  English  diplomatic  agent  of  high 
rank,  before  he  had  succeeded  in  finding  Lord  Aberdeen, 
and  apparently  thinking  one  diplomatist  as  good  as  another, 
he  gave  him  the  letter  for  Lord  Aberdeen,  and  galloped 
back  at  once  to  the  battle.  The  accidental  recipient  of 
Napoleon's  offers  forthwith  addressed  a  despatch  to  Castle- 
reagh,  conveying,  as  from  himself,  the  information  he  had 
thus  acquired,  and  instead  of  handing  the  letter  to  Lord 
Aberdeen  when  they  met,  as  they  did  the  same  evening  in 
Leipsic,  retained  it  until  after  the  messenger  had  started  for 
England.  He  then  forwarded  it  to  its  address.  Lord  Aber- 
deen, not  knowing  that  he  had   been  forestalled,  himself 


LEIPSIC   TO   FRANKFORT  33 

wrote  a  despatch  on  the  subject,  and  was  then  told  that  the 
news  was  already  gone.  The  forwarder  of  the  intelligence 
received  the  warmest  thanks  of  the  Government  and  sub- 
stantial reward.  Lord  Aberdeen,  and  Sir  Robert  Wilson, 
who  was  not  mentioned  in  the  despatch  sent,  got  neither. 
With  most  men  this  would  have  led  to  a  violent  quarrel. 
Lord  Aberdeen  felt  that  any  such  quarrel  between  two 
English  ministers,  in  the  presence  of  strangers,  would  be 
out  of  place,  and  injurious  to  the  public  interest.  He 
preserved  uninterruptedly  the  most  friendly  and  familiar 
relations  with  his  colleague,  and  the  only  expression  of  his 
feelings  that  he  permitted  himself  was  the  addition  of  the 
following  postscript  to  a  letter  written  in  terms  of  accustomed 
cordiality  :  '  I  hope  you  repent  of  your  silence  to  me  at 
Leipsic  ;  it  was  not  fair  or  friendly,  and  I  am  sure  could 
not  have  been  deserved  by  me.' 

The  journey  from  Leipsic  to  Frankfort  was,  like  that 
from  Teplitz  to  Leipsic,  accomplished  chiefly  on  horseback. 
It  did  not  diminish  Lord  Aberdeen's  sense  of  the  horrors 
of  war.  His  letters  tell  us  that  the  terrible  sights  through 
w^hich  he  passed  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  take  any 
pleasure  in  the  beautiful  scenery  which  enchanted  his 
companions. 

The  whole  road  to  this  place  (he  wrote  from  Fulda)  is 
scattered  with  dead.  It  is  not  like  a  field  of  battle,  but  single 
bodies  lie  by  the  roadside  at  such  small  intervals  that  we  were 
scarcely  a  minute  or  two  without  a  repetition  of  the  object. 
These  poor  wretches  had  dropped  down  from  fatigue,  some 
actually  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  and  the  people  had  not 
taken  the  trouble  to  remove  them  to  the  side,  although  they 
had  all  been  not  only  carefully  searched  for  anything  of  value 
they  might  have  had,  but  the  bodies  were  stripped  of  every 
vestige  of  clothing. 

Again,  from  Gelnhausen  : 

He  [Napoleon]  must  have  lost  immense  numbers.  You 
have  no  conception  of  the  road  to  this  place  ;  it  is  covered  with 

D 


34  LORD   ABERDEEN 

dead  bodies  and  wretches  dying.  The  bodies  were  so  thick  in 
coming  into  this  town  that  we  actually  drove  over  them.  .  .  . 
The  most  affecting  sight  I  think  that  I  ever  beheld,  I  have  seen 
to-day.  Houses  were  burning  ;  the  owners  of  these  cottages  in 
the  deepest  misery,  and  their  children  playing  around,  quite 
delighted  with  the  fire  which  consumed  the  whole  property  of 
their  parents,  and  condemned  them  to  cold  and  hunger.  Here 
is  a  mixture  of  innocence  and  wretchedness  which  goes  to  the 
heart.  I  do  not  know  when  I  have  felt  more  severely  the 
wretchedness  of  mankind. 

Lord  Aberdeen  entered  Frankfort  on  the  6th  of  November 
with  the  Emperor  Francis,  and  was  a  witness  of  the  enthusi- 
asm with  which  his  return  was  greeted  there. 

The  streets,  windows,  and  even  roofs  of  houses  were 
crowded  with  spectators  ;  the  acclamations  were  universal,  and 
it  was  easy  to  see  that  these  unbought  shouts  came  from  the 
heart,  and  were  produced  only  by  gratitude  for  their  deliver- 
ance. It  was  impossible  to  mistake  the  sincere  and  heartfelt 
emotion  by  which  they  were  produced.  It  is  but  seldom  that 
the  fate  of  kings  is  to  be  envied,  yet  I  confess  that  the 
sensations  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria  on  entering  this  town, 
after  all  that  has  happened  since  his  coronation  here,  twenty- 
one  years  ago,  are  such  as  one  would  give  a  good  deal  to  enjoy. 

The  headquarters  of  the  allied  sovereigns  remained  for 
more  than  a  month  at  Frankfort.  Lord  Aberdeen  had 
feared  that  it  might  become  '  a  Capua  ; '  but  this  was  not 
the  case.  It  was,  however,  a  stage,  on  which  kings,  generals 
and  statesmen  were  even  more  crowded  than  at  Teplitz. 
Lord  Aberdeen  was  not  a  little  disappointed  by  the  es- 
sentially commonplace  character  and  moderate  abilities  ot 
the  leading  actors,  both  civil  and  military,  in  the  great 
drama  in  which  he  was  called  on  to  take  part.  '  I  have 
seen  all  the  great  men  whose  names  at  a  distance  are  im- 
posing,' he  had  already  written  to  Lady  Maria  from  Teplitz, 
*  but  I  think  little  of  most  of  them.  Old  Platoff  is  a  strik- 
ing figure,  but  quite  a  barbarian  ;  Barclay  de  Tolly  the 
dullest  dog  you  can  imagine  ;  Bennigsen  sensible,  but  near 
eighty  years  of  age.  I  rather  like  the  Grand  Duke  Con- 
stantine.     He  is  the  image  of  Paul,   and   very  mad,   but 


PRINCES    AND  MINISTERS  35 

very  entertaining,  and  in  a  way  clever.  But  the  Prince 
Royal  of  Prussia  is  the  prince  of  the  greatest  promise.  He 
is  very  like  his  mother,  and  shows  great  spirit.'  Nesselrode 
he  describes  as  a  man  of  but  moderate  abilities,  and  selected 
by  the  Emperor  Alexander  as  his  minister  for  that  very 
reason  ;  '  the  moment  he  is  suspected  of  possessing  talents 
superior  to  those  of  his  master  will  be  the  last  of  his  power.' 
The  naive  and  excessive  vanity  of  Metternich,  and  the 
narrowness  of  many  of  his  views,  inclined  Lord  Aberdeen 
in  the  first  instance  to  take  a  lower  view  of  his  abilities 
than  he  did  at  a  later  period  of  the  campaign,  but  while 
doing  full  justice  to  his  extreme  dexterity  and  instinctive 
perception  of  what  was  in  any  given  circumstances  possible, 
he  persisted  in  considering  that  his  reputation  far  exceeded 
his  true  intellectual  rank.  It  is  curious,  as  showing  how 
complete  had  been  the  cessation  of  intercourse  with  the 
Continent,  to  find  Lord  Aberdeen  gravely  correcting  the  im- 
pression of  the  English  P'oreign  Secretary  that  Metternich 
was  at  that  time  a  very  old  man  ! 

It  is  easy  to  comprehend  the  species  of  intoxication 
which  must  have  attended  the  vast  successes  of  the  allies. 
After  so  many  years  of  unchecked  ascendency  on  the  part 
of  Napoleon,  the  mere  spectacle  of  his  flight  from  German 
soil  must  have  caused  a  singularly  novel  as  well  as  satis- 
factory sensation  to  all  good  Germans  ;  but  the  news  which 
poured  in  from  all  quarters  in  succession,  the  accession  of 
Bavaria  to  the  alliance,  followed  by  that  of  Wurtemberg, 
the  dissolution  of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  French  from  Spain,  the  defection  of  Murat, 
the  revolt  of  Holland,  the  submission  of  Denmark,  were 
sufficient  to  turn  the  strongest  head,  and  that  in  many 
cases  they  did  so  is  sufficiently  apparent  from  the  corre- 
spondence which  has  been  preserved.     They  did  not,  how- 

D  2 


3^  Lord  Aberdeen 

ever,  turn  that  of  the  young  ambassador,  who  still  held  that, 
on  all  grounds,  peace  should  be  made  as  soon  as  it  could 
be  made  with  security.     That  security,  he  believed,  would 
be  afforded  by  stripping  from  Napoleon  all  the  possessions 
and  influence  which  he  had  acquired  beyond  the  natural 
limits  of  France ;  nor  did  he  think  that  those  limits  could 
be  infringed  or  diminished  without  the  strongest  probability 
of  exciting  on  the  part  of  the  French  nation  an  universal 
patriotic  resistance,  the  strength  of  which  had  been  under- 
rated twenty  years  before,  and  might  easily  be  underrated 
again.     Lord  Cathcart  and  Sir  Charles  Stewart  held  other 
opinions,  in  which  they  were  warmly  supported  by  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  regular  diplomatic  service  ;  whose  jealousy  of 
the  '  amateur  ambassador,'  who  had  never  before  held  any 
diplomatic  post,  was  not  diminished  by  the  extraordinary 
favour  and  confidence  with  which  Lord  Aberdeen  was  dis- 
tinguished,   not   only  by  the   sovereign   to  whom   he  was 
accredited,  but  by  those  also  with  whom  Lord  Cathcart  and 
Sir  Charles  Stewart  were  in  ostensibly  closer  relation.     It 
was  not  with  Lord  Cathcart,  but  with  Lord  Aberdeen,  that 
Count  Nesselrode  conferred  on  the  subject  of  the  general 
alliance,    the    arrangements    with    Denmark,    the    future 
operations  of  the  allies,  and  the  propositions  to  Napoleon, 
of  which,  as  well  as  of  the  proposals  to  Denmark,  Lord 
Aberdeen  alone  of   the  English  ministers  was  cognisant, 
and  which  were  only  communicated  to  Lord  Cathcart  at  a 
later  period,  and  by  Lord  Aberdeen's  express  wish. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  during  the  course 
of  the  battle  of  Leipsic  General  Count  Merfeldt  was  taken 
prisoner,  and  sent  back  to  the  Austrian  army,  on  parole,  by 
Napoleon.  He  brought  from  the  French  Emperor  offers 
for  the  surrender  of  the  Elbe  fortresses,  and  jovertures  for 
peace,  accompanied  by  an  expression  of  Napoleon's  willing- 


THE   FRANKFORT   BASIS  37 

ness  to  make  sacrifices  which  Merfeldt  plainly  told  him  the 
allies  would  certainly  require.  The  offer  of  the  fortresses 
was  rejected  with  no  other  reply  than  that  involved  in  the 
renewal  of  the  battle  ;  but  to  the  intimation  that  Napoleon 
was  willing  to  treat  for  peace,  it  was  requisite  to  give  some 
answer ;  and  it  was  decided  between  Metternich,  Nesselrode, 
and  Aberdeen,  that  the  Count  de  St.  Aignan,  the  French 
Resident  at  Gotha  and  Weimar,  who  had  been  taken  prisoner 
at  Leipsic,  should  be  charged  with  the  response  to  the 
overture.  His  release,  both  as  a  non-military  man  and  a 
diplomatic  agent,  was  in  any  case  inevitable,  and  his  natural 
departure  from  the  allied  lines  for  France  was  consequently 
unlikely  to  excite  any  curiosity  or  suspicion.  In  this  trans- 
action Lord  Aberdeen  again  gave  proof  of  that  calm  sober- 
ness of  judgment  and  moderation  which  so  eminently 
distinguished  him.  He  reports,  that  at  a  long  conference 
between  Metternich,  Nesselrode,  and  himself  on  November 
8,  '  Count  Nesselrode  wished  to  state  the  terms  of  the  allies 
in  the  first  instance  as  high  as  possible,  and  reduce  them 
afterwards  in  the  course  of  negotiation.'  Lord  Aberdeen 
was  of  opinion  that  it  '  would  be  the  preferable  course  to 
state  the  terms  as  low  as  possible,  and  firmly  to  adhere  to 
them.  I  told  him,'  he  wrote,  'that  if  the  propositions 
were  made  with  the  hope  of  being  accepted,  common  sense 
dictated  that  they  should  be  rendered  as  palatable  to  Bona- 
parte as  was  consistent  with  the  fixed  views  of  the  allies. 
If  the  proposition  were  made  without  any  such  hope,  I 
deprecated  the  whole  proceeding,  as  being  most  erroneous 
in  principle,  and  calculated  to  produce  the  greatest  injury 
to  the  common  cause.  In  this  reasoning  Prince  Metternich 
concurred.'  *   The  following  evening  Metternich,  Nesselrode, 

*  Count  Metternich  had  heen^gfeatetj  a^Pn'nrp  immediately  after 
the  battle  of  Leipsic. 


38  LORD   ABERDEEN 

and  Aberdeen  saw  St.  Aignan  immediately  before  his 
departure.  A  conversation  ensued,  in  which  the  essential 
bases  of  negotiation  were  stated  to  be  the  adoption  by  Bona- 
parte of  the  natural  limits  of  France,  meaning  generally  there- 
by the  Alps,  the  Rhine,  and  the  Pyrenees  :  '  the  absolute 
independence  of  Germany,  and  the  renunciation  of  every 
species  of  constitutional  influence  in  that  country  on  the 
part  of  France  ;  not  meaning  thereby  the  natural  and  in- 
dispensable influence  which  every  powerful  state  must  exer- 
cise over  its  weaker  neighbours  : '  and  the  absolute  inde- 
pendence of  Spain,  Italy,  and  Holland.  On  the  other  hand 
Lord  Aberdeen  told  M.  de  St.  Aignan  that  England  was 
ready  to  make  great  sacrifices  in  order  to  obtain  peace  for 
Europe ;  that  she  did  not  interfere  with  the  freedom  of 
commerce,  or  with  those  maritime  rights  to  which  France 
could  with  justice  pretend,  and  had  no  wish  to  interfere 
with  the  reasonable  pretensions  of  France.  .  .  .  '  My  great 
object,  if  any  propositions  were  made,  was  so  to  frame 
them  as  to  afford  the  greatest  probability  of  success  con- 
sistent with  the  fixed  policy  of  the  allies.  .  .  .  My  next 
object  was  that  the  whole  transaction  should  be  conducted 
with  the  utmost  secrecy  and  expedition.  .  ,  .' 

When  Lord  Cathcart  and  Sir  Charles  Stewart  became 
aware  of  what  had  passed,  the  former  was  startled,  and 
inclined  to  insist  on  the  prosecution  of  the  war  without  any 
negotiation  ;  but  he  was  on  the  spot,  and  Lord  Aberdeen 
was  able  to  induce  him  to  adopt  views  similar  to  his  own, 
nor  from  that  time  forward  did  he  encounter  any  difficulties 
on  the  part  of  Lord  Cathcart.  Sir  Charles  Stewart  was 
unfortunately  at  Hanover  with  the  Crown  Prince  of  Sweden, 
and  consequently  out  of  the  reach  of  Lord  Aberdeen's 
personal  influence  ;  while  he  was  worked  on  by  those  about 
him  who  disliked  Lord  Aberdeen,  and  despised  him  as  an 


THE    BASIS    APPROVED  39 

amateur.  These  persons  persuaded  Sir  Charles  Stewart  that 
Lord  Aberdeen  had  abandoned  the  interests  of  England  and 
of  Europe,  and  that  France  had  no  '  maritime  rights '  to 
which  she  could  with  justice  pretend,  and  no  '  pretensions  ' 
which  could  be  considered  reasonable.  In  his  despatches  on 
that  subject  Sir  Charles  Stewart  insisted  that  Lord  Aberdeen 
had  omitted  from  the  propositions,  which  Napoleon  was  to 
be  called  on  to  accept,  several  objects  of  the  highest  interest 
to  Great  Britain.  But  Castlereagh  and  the  British  Cabinet 
shared  Lord  Aberdeen's  views,  adopted  his  reasoning,  and 
approved  his  action.  Sir  Charles  Stewart  was  somewhat 
curtly  told  that  he  had  omitted  to  perceive  the  essential 
difference  between  a  basis  of  negotiation  and  the  terms  of  a 
definitive  treaty,  and  Lord  Aberdeen  was  assured  of '  H.R.H. 
the  Prince  Regent's  full  approval  of  the  part  he  had  borne  in 
these  delicate  and  momentous  discussions,'  and  of  the  will- 
ingness of  the  British  Government  to  treat  on  the  bases 
proposed,  including  therein  the  frontier  of  '  the  Rhine,  with 
such  departure  therefrom  as  may  sufficiently  provide  for  the 
independence  and  security  of  Holland,'  which  country  had 
in  the  interval  successfully  freed  itself  from  French  control. 

But  the  commencement  of  negotiations  for  peace  was 
not  the  only  matter  which  attracted  Lord  Aberdeen's  atten- 
tion during  his  stay  at  Frankfort.  The  liberation  of  Holland 
and  of  Switzerland,  the  detachment  of  Denmark  from  the 
French  cause,  the  position  of  Murat,  and  the  negotiation  of 
the  general  treaty  of  alliance  equally  occupied  his  thoughts. 

The  liberation  of  Holland,  from  which  the  French  were 
expelled  almost  without  fighting,  was  effected  with  little 
difficulty ;  but  in  the  Low  Countries  the  rising  was  more 
■partial,  and  an  attempt  to  seize  Antwerp  failed.  As  to  Swit- 
zerland Lord  Aberdeen  wrote,  that  the  Avoyer  of  Berne  had 
sent  secretly  to  consult  him,  and  that  he  had  vigorously  sup- 


40  LORD   ABERDEEN 

ported  the  plan  of  effecting  a  revolution  in  Switzerland  and 
the  restoration  of  the  old  cantonal  government  concurrently 
with  the  entrance  of  Switzerland  by  the  allied  armies  on 
their  road  to  France. 

That  Denmark  was  added  to  the  allies  was  entirely  due 
to  the  firmness  of  Lord  Aberdeen.  Prussia  already  cast  an 
eye  on  the  provinces  which  it  annexed  half  a  century  later, 
and  on  Swedish  Pomerania,  which  it  could  only  hope  to 
receive  if  Sweden  acquired  fresh  territory  elsewhere.  Russia, 
for  reasons  of  its  own,  desired  such  an  aggrandisement  of 
Sweden  at  the  expense  of  Denmark  as  would  excuse  its  own 
extension  westwards.  The  English  Government  was  bent 
on  satisfying  its  guarantee  to  Bernadotte,  and  was  on  the 
whole  impatient  of  discussions  which  seemed  to  retard,  if 
not  imperil,  its  fulfilment  and  his  co-operation.  Lord  Aber- 
deen was,  however,  far  from  sharing  the  sentiments  of  his 
Government  on  this  point.  Although  he  might  not  be  able 
very  materially  to  soften  the  hard  conditions  to  be  imposed 
on  Denmark,  he  was  at  all  events  determined  to  avert,  if  he 
could,  her  threatened  extinction  as  an  independent  state, 
and  afford  her  an  opportunity  of  recovering  her  position 
by  entering  the  alliance,  should  she  make  up  her  mind  to  do 
so  on  the  only  conditions  now  attainable. 

It  was  with  great  surprise  that  Lord  Aberdeen  learnt 
on  his  arrival  at  Teplitz,  that  Murat  was  actually  in  Dresden 
and  in  command  of  Napoleon's  cavalry.  He  had  been 
lured  there  by  Napoleon  on  the  pretence  that  peace  was 
upon  the  point  of  conclusion.  On  his  arrival  he  was  placed 
under  arrest  until  he  consented  to  comply  with  Napoleon's 
wishes.  He  nevertheless  contrived  to  keep  up  intercourse 
with  Metternich  and  Lord  Aberdeen,  and  on  the  first  op- 
portunity after  the  defeats  of  Leipsic  he  quitted  Napoleon 
and  fled,  with  the  utmost  expedition,  to  Italy,  whence  he 


JEALOUSIES   AMONG   THE  ALLIES  4 1 

issued  orders  for  the  recall  of  the  Neapolitan  troops  then 
serving  with  the  French  army.  Finally,  an  armistice 
between  the  Austrian  and  Neapolitan  forces  was  followed  by 
one  between  Murat  and  the  British  army  in  Sicily,  signed 
on  behalf  of  England  by  Mr.  J.  G.  R.  Graham,  whose  long 
and  clear  letter  giving  an  account  of  the  transaction,  and 
excusing  his  own  boldness  in  taking  upon  himself  though 
'a  very  young  man,'  to  sign  an  arrangement  not  exactly 
authorised  by  his  instructions,  was  the  first  communication 
ever  received  by  Lord  Aberdeen  from  the  most  intimate 
correspondent  of  his  later  life,  Sir  James  Graham  of 
Netherby. 

But  the  greatest  and  most  successful  service  rendered 
by  Lord  Aberdeen  during  the  month  spent  by  the  allied 
sovereigns  at  Frankfort  and  the  subsequent  month  passed  on 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine  was  the  prevention  of  any  out- 
break of  the  mutual  jealousies  which  were  ever  ready 
to  blaze  forth,  and  were  only  suppressed  by  his  exer- 
cise of  tact  and  resolute  retention  of  a  commanding 
position  as  the  representative  of  England.  But  this  was 
a  service  which,  though  of  infinite  importance,  was  not  one 
to  attract  the  public  eye,  or  to  be  loudly  celebrated 
by  colleagues  whom  it  cast  into  the  shade.  It  was, 
however,  fully  recognised  by  Lord  Castlereagh  and  Lord 
Liverpool,  and  has  equally  been  so  by  those  who  have  made 
the  diplomatic  transactions  of  the  campaign  a  matter  of 
serious  study.  'It  is  probable,'  writes  the  accomplished 
author  of  a  series  of  articles  which  appeared  in  the  Edinburgh 
Review  for  1858-59, 

that  after  the  Duke  of  Wellington  no  British  statesman  or 
soldier  so  largely  influenced  the  successful  issue  of  the  great 
struggle  for  the  freedom  of  Europe  in  18 13  [as  Lord  Aberdeen]. 
It  may  be  doubted  whether,  but  for  the  firmness,  the  tact,  the 
temper,  and  the  sagacity  which  form  the  character  of  Lord 
Aberdeen,  the  influence  of  England  would  have  overcome  the 


42  LORD   ABERDEEN 

rival  interests  which  first  obstructed  the  combination  of  the 
European  powers  and  next  threatened  the  dissolution  of  their 
confederacy. 

This  is  the  language  of  a  man  of  great  knowledge,  and  the 

calmest  judicial  temperament,^  who   was  bound  to   Lord 

Aberdeen   by  no   tie  of  political  connection  or  personal 

attachment ;  and  it  will  probably  command  the  acquiescence 

of  the  few  who  possess  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  secret 

history  of  the  time. 

Lord  Aberdeen's  difficulties  were  materially  increased 

by  the  marked  difference  shown  by  his  Government  in  its 

attitude  towards  Russia  and  Austria.     On  December  4  he 

wrote  to  Castlereagh  : 

The  outrageous  compliment  you  pay  [in  the  Prince  Regent's 
speech]  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia  does  not  suit  the  taste  of  the 
successor  of  the  Cccsars  ;  and  when  you  put  Austria  and 
Bavaria  in  the  same  paragraph,  you  cannot  be  surprised  that 
the  proudest  Court  in  Europe  should  take  offence.  Really 
these  sallies  undo  all  that  I  am  labouring  to  accomplish  ;  God 
knows  there  are  heart  burnings  enough  to  allay,  and  the  task  is 
not  easy.  I  do  my  best,  but  I  tell  you  plainly  a  few  more 
instances  of  such  odious  preference  will  go  far  to  loosen  the 
very  foundations  of  the  coalition. 

Besides  the  great  political  questions  which  occupied  his 
attention,  there  were  others  of  a  more  personal  character  in 
which  Lord  Aberdeen  took  a  lively  interest. 

Among  the  brilliant  assembly  which  Lord  Aberdeen 
had  found  collected  at  Teplitz  there  was  an  English  officer, 
Sir  Robert  Wilson,  previously  unknown  to  Lord  Aberdeen 
except  by  reputation.  With  him  Lord  Aberdeen  speedily 
contracted  relations  of  close  intimacy.  Sir  Robert  Wilson 
had  accompanied  the  Russian  armies  as  English  military 
representative  during  the  whole  of  the  campaign  of  181 2- 
13  ;  and  he  was  now  temporarily  attached  in  a  somewhat 
similar  capacity  to  the  army  of  Prince  Schwartzenberg. 
'  The  late  Sir  George  Cornewall  L^wis, 


SIR   ROBERT   WILSON  43 

The  absence  of  Tory  prejudices  on  Lord  Aberdeen's  part 
astonished  him,  and  whilst  at  Frankfort  he  wrote  in  his 
diary  :    '  By  principles  Aberdeen  belongs  to  us.     He  is  a 
Liberal  politician,  and  a  man  of  high  independent  spirit, 
with  a  very  reasoning  mind,  in  which  there  is  no  inextirp- 
able  prejudice.     I  should  have  thought  Lord  Grey  and  he 
would  have  been  inseparables  ;  and  they  would  have  been, 
if  accident  had  favoured  nature  and  brought  them  more  in 
communication.'  ^     The  testimony  of  so  strong  a  Liberal 
as  Sir  Robert  Wilson  to  the  breadth  of  Lord  Aberdeen's 
views  is  remarkable,  though  it  was  no  doubt  accentuated 
by  gratitude.     Wilson   had  been   temporarily  attached  to 
Schwartzenberg's   headquarters,  the  moment  the  Austrian 
army  had  joined  the  allies.     His  previous  service  with  the 
Russian  army  and  intimacy  with  the  Emperor  Alexander 
and  with  Bliicher  made  him  specially  useful  as  a  medium 
of  communication  between  all  the  divisions  of  the  allied 
force,  and  gave  him  an  influence  and  position  which  no  man, 
however  able,  coming  newly  to  the  scene  could  hope  for  a 
long  period  to  possess.     But  the  officer  whom  the  English 
Government  had  now  sent  out  to  act  as  military  attache  with 
the  Austrian  army  was  not  an  able  man  ;  while  of  course  he 
was  totally  unacquainted  with  those  with  whom  he  would 
be  placed  in  relation.     He  was   the  eldest  son  of  Lord 
Westmorland,  Lord  Burghersh,  then  a  young  soldier  with- 
out   distinction.      He   was    known    afterwards    as   a   fair 
amateur  musician,  who  once  wrote  an  opera  and  composed 
a  Mass  ;  who  for  a  long  period  represented  England  with 
credit  at  the   Courts  of  Tuscany  and  Naples  ;   and  who 
afterwards   became  British  minister  at  Berlin  and  ambas- 
sador at  Vienna. 

Lord  Aberdeen  knew  and  liked  Burghersh,  but  at  once 
'  Sir  Robert  Wilson's  Private  Journal,  1813-14,  vol.  ii.  p.  238, 


44  LORD   ABERDEEN 

saw  that  not  only  was  he  not  the  man  to  replace  Wilson, 
but  that  the  substitution  of  the  one  for  the  other  had  in  it 
something  which  bordered  on  the  ludicrous.  He  therefore 
strongly  urged  Castlereagh  to  leave  Sir  Robert  Wilson 
where  he  was,  and  to  send  Lord  Burghersh  with  the  army 
of  Marshal  Bellegarde  to  Italy.  This  was  pressed  by  him 
in  the  strongest  language. 

Schwartzenberg  and  Metternich  have  frequently  spoken  to 
me  on  the  subject.  The  first  has  written  to  me  in  the  most 
pressing  manner  ;  the  latter  has  told  me  that  he  had  it  in 
command  from  the  Emperor  to  express  his  sense  of  the  great 
services  of  Wilson,  and  to  state  his  wishes  that  he  should  con- 
tinue with  the  army.  Schwartzenberg  told  me  he  would  as 
soon  part  with  Radetzky,  the  Quartermaster-General;  that 
Wilson  was  admitted  to  all  their  councils,  and  that  they  had 
the  most  entire  confidence  in  his  zeal  and  talents.  His  services 
in  the  field  have  been  most  conspicuous.  In  short,  to  enu- 
merate his  military  services  would  be  endless.  But  great  as 
they  are,  they  fall  short  in  Schwartzenberg's  estimation  of  those 
which  he  has  rendered  out  of  the  field.  From  his  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  Russian  and  Prussian  armies,  and  the  great 
respect  invariably  shown  him  by  the  Emperor  of  Russia  and 
the  King  of  Prussia,  he  is  able  to  do  a  thousand  things  which 
no  one  else  could.  He  was  the  means  of  making  up  a  differ- 
ence between  the  King  and  Schwartzenberg,  which  was  of 
the  utmost  importance.  In  short,  I  cannot  possibly  be  deceived  ; 
I  hear  it  from  morning  till  night  from  all  nations  ;  and  I  am 
perfectly  persuaded  there  is  no  man  in  existence  who  unites  in 
the  fourth  part  of  the  degree  the  love  and  admiration  of  the 
three  armies. 

And  again,  somewhat  later  : — 

I  do  not  know  how  to  express  the  sensation  which  the 
intelligence  of  Wilson's  removal  has  produced  in  all  ranks  of 
all  armies.  The  Emperor  of  Russia  has  flatly  declared  that  he 
will  take  on  himself  the  responsibility  of  making  him  stay,  and 
that  he  will  write  to  the  Prince  accordingly.  The  King  has 
been  equally  kind,  and  old  Bliicher  has  pressed  him  to  come 
and  share  his  quarters  for  the  rest  of  the  campaign,  where  he 
shall  be  treated  as  his  son.  But  in  the  Austrian  army,  from 
the  first  to  the  last,  the  feeling  is  the  same,  and  as  strongly 
expressed.  I  assure  you  that  Schwartzenberg  more  than  once, 
in  speaking  of  it,  has  absolutely  cried  with  vexation — a  pretty 
good  proof  that  he  was   in  earnest     He  says  that  in  the 


SIR   ROBERT   WILSON  4^ 

disagreeable  sort  of  command  which  he  has  over  Russians  and 
Prussians   there  are  many  things  which,  if  it   were   not   for 
Wilson,  he  should  not  venture  to  propose.     In  the  field  it  has 
frequently   happened   that   he  has    sent   Wilson   to  persuade 
Russian  officers,  nay,  even  the  Emperor  himself,  to  do  what  he 
would   not  otherwise  have  thought  of.     Schwartzenberg  told 
me  that  he  had  stated  this  in  pretty  plain  terms  to  Burghersh, 
in  the  hope  that  he  would  have  chosen  to  go  to  Italy.     The 
Emperor  of  Austria  has   taken   it   up   as   strongly ;    he  has 
spoken  to  Metternich  about  it,  and  directed  him  to  take  some 
steps  on  the  subject.     Now  you  may  think  all  this  intrigue,  but 
how  is  it  possible  ?    Would  everybody  that  is  highest  and  most 
respectable  join  in  a  matter  of  this  kind  if  they  had  it  not 
really  at  heart  ?     Besides  the  Emperor  and  Metternich,  every 
Austrian  at  all  distinguished  has  come  to  me  with  the  same 
language.      Merfeldt,    Liechtenstein,    Colloredo,    Fresnel,    Ra- 
detzky,  all  agree  ;  and  this  feeling  is  not  confined  to  military 
men.     I  believe  that  I  have  given  tolerable  satisfaction  here  to 
both  Austrians  and  Russians,  and  may,  perhaps,  be  of  some 
use  by  not  being  thought  ill  of  by  either  ;  but  it  is  the  deliberate 
conviction  of  my  mind  that  neither  I  nor  any  minister  whatever 
could  be  of  half  the  use  to  the  general  cause  that  Wilson  has 
been.     I  am  not  blind  to  his  faults — he  may  be  too  meddling  ; 
his  political  opinions  may  have  been  violent,  and  of  course  an 
ill-directed  zeal  may  lead  him  into  error  :  but  what,  after  all,  is 
the  result  ?     Never  man  was  more  loved  and  admired  than  he 
has  been,  and  it  is  at  a  moment  like  the  present  that  one  finds 
it   out  in  its  full  extent.     With  regard  to  myself,  it  is  quite 
impossible  that  I  should  have  any  object  in  this  affair.     I  never 
knew  Wilson  before  coming  here.     I  declare  before  God  with 
the  most  deep-rooted  conviction  that  the  good  of  the  service 
absolutely  demands  my  interference  in  this  case.     And  I  tell 
you   with   the   same   frankness   which   I  hope  always   to   use 
towards  you,  that  if  you  persevere  in  this  arrangement  you  are 
guilty   of  an   act   more   injurious   to   the   general   good   than 
anything    else   of   a   personal    nature   which    I    can    possibly 
conceive  could  be.     If  you  value  the  wishes  of  every  person  to 
whom  you  ought  to  attend  here,  if  you  value  the  good  of  the 
service,   if   you   wish   to   possess   a   tie   by  which   Austrians, 
Russians,  and  Prussians  may  be  united,  and  mutual  asperities 
smoothed,  you  will  keep  Wilson  here. 

But   he  wrote  in  vain.      Sir  Robert  Wilson's   Liberal 

politics  were  fatal  to  him,  and  Castlereagh  replied,  with 

•something  like  a  sneer,  that  Sir  Robert  Wilson  might  enjoy 

the  confidence  of  other  European  Governments,  but  did  not 

possess  that  of  his  own  ;  that,  however,  as  Lord  Aberdeen 


46  LORD    ABERDEEN 

wished  him  to  continue  with  the  Austrian  armies,  he  might 
be  allowed  to  do  so  ;  but  only  at  the  headquarters  of 
Marshal  Bellegarde  in  Italy.  I  have  thought  this  incident 
worthy  of  narration  at  some  length,  because  it  is  highly 
illustrative  both  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  character,  and  of  the 
way  in  which  such  matters  were  regarded  in  official  circles 
in  the  early  years  of  this  century.  To  Lord  Aberdeen  it 
seemed  only  natural  and  right  that  the  officer  of  experience 
and  influence  should  remain  at  the  post  where  that  know- 
ledge and  influence  were  most  usefully  exercised,  and  that 
the  newcomer  should  go  to  Italy  ;  but  to  his  diplomatic 
colleagues,  and  especially  to  the  smaller  fry  of  officials,  like 
Sir  George  Jackson,  it  appeared  not  only  amazing,  but 
positively  scandalous,  that  such  considerations  should 
induce  him  to  prefer  a  man  of  Whig  opinions  to  a  supporter 
of  the  Government ;  a  man  previously  unknown  to  him  to 
one  with  whom  he  was  familiar  ; '  and  a  soldier  without  birth 
or  connection  to  the  son  of  a  Cabinet  minister. 

Lord  Aberdeen  has  left  on  record  a  strong  opinion  with 
regard  to  the  capitulation  of  Dresden,  which,  though  not 
that  of  the  majority  of  his  contemporaries,  the  verdict  of 
posterity  has  ratified. 

The  attempt  to  restore  things  to  their  former  condition  is  so 
essentially  absurd — and  the  enemy  will  so  well  know  how  to 
turn  it  to  account — that  I  am  sure:  it  would  have  been  better  to 
fulfil  the  conditions,  however  unauthorised.  Being  on  that  foot- 
ing of  intimacy  with  Schwartzenberg  which  enabled  me  to  ven- 
ture to  do  so,  I  spoke  to  him  on  the  subject.  He  received  my 
observations  with  the  utmost  kindness,  but  said  it  was  now  at  all 
events  too  late  to  do  anything,  and  that  he  had  considered  the 
matter  coolly,  and  was  convinced  he  was  justified  in  equity  and 
military  law  in  not  ratifying  the  act.  Of  course  I  did  not  press 
the  matter  further.  In  the  evening  I  saw  the  Emperor.  He 
talked  with  me  a  long  while  on  the  subject.  He  said  that  he 
himself  entirely  agreed  with  me  in  the  view  that  I  had  taken, 

'  "  The  droll  thing  is  that  Lord  Aberdeen,  to  whom  Wilson 
was  unknown  till  he  met  him  here,  supports  him."— ^aM  Archives, 
Sir  G.  Jackson,  vol.  ii.  p.  347. 


CHARACTER  OF  METTERNICH        47 

and  had  spoken  to  Metternich  accordingly.  He  said  that  they 
had  persuaded  him  to  agree  to  the  course  that  had  been 
adopted,  but  that  it  was  against  his  judgment.  He  said 
a  hundred  things  about  the  interest  which  I  had  taken  in  his 
honour,  and  altogether  spoke  in  so  cordial  a  manner  that  I 
cannot  do  justice  to  the  satisfaction  he  exhibited. 

While  desirous  of  peace,  and  inclined  to  believe  that  it 
might  be  brought  about  with  safety,  and  without  the  sacri- 
fice of  any  essentially  English  interest,  Lord  Aberdeen 
never  ceased  to  urge  meanwhile  the  most  vigorous  pro- 
secution of  the  war.  He  strongly  advocated  and  assisted  in 
deciding  the  advance  of  the  armies  into  France  itself,  a 
measure  apparently  almost  as  distasteful  to  the  other  English 
diplomatists  on  the  spot,  as  the  intimation  of  a  readiness  to 
negotiate  had  been.  The  English  Government  was  reluctant 
to  surrender  its  apprehension  that  Metternich  was  in- 
clined to  favour  France,  and  that  slowness  and  indecision 
had  been  shown  by  the  Austrian  Government  in  raising 
forces  for  the  contest.  Views  of  this  nature  were  expressed 
in  a  letter  from  Castlereagh,  and  Lord  Aberdeen's  answer 
was  highly  characteristic  : 

Do  not  think  Metternich  such  a  formidable  personage  ; 
depend  upon  it  I  have  most  substantial  reasons  for  knowing 
that  he  is  heart  and  soul  with  us  ;  but,  my  dear  Castlereagh, 
with  all  your  wisdom,  judgment,  and  experience,  which  are  as 
great  as  possible,  and  which  I  respect  sincerely,  I  think  you 
have  so  much  of  the  Englishman  about  you  as  not  quite  to  be 
aware  of  the  real  value  of  foreign  modes  of  acting.  Pict  your- 
self 171  Metternich^s  place.  He  had  an  Austrian  game  as  well 
as  a  European  one  to  play,  and  to  play  which  was  his  first 
duty.  To  enter  into  the  war  with  most  insufficient  means — ■ 
to  deliver  himself,  even  if  successful,  into  the  hands  of  Russia 
and  Prussia— could  not  be  wise  in  the  minister  of  this 
weakened  but  still  mighty  empire.  He  has  come  forward  as 
the  head  of  the  German  body  should  appear — the  leading 
power  ;  the  effect  has  been  decisive.  Now  do  not  be  afraid  of 
nie.  There  is  a  sort  of  half  confidence  and  intimacy  which 
ambassadors  may  enjoy  which  perhaps  is  likely  to  mislead. 
My  intercourse  with  Metternich  is  of  another  description. 
Living  with  him  at  all  times  and  in  all  situations,  is  it  possible 


4^  LORD   ABERDEEN 

that  I  should  not  know  him?  He  is  singularly  acute  but 
withal  not  a  very  clever  man.  He  is  very  vain,  but  he  is 
a  good  Austrian.  He  is  at  this  moment  the  main  support  of 
warlike  measures. 

Lord  Aberdeen,  who  considered  that  he  had  fulfilled  his 
mission  by  firmly  establishing  the  Austrian  alliance,  con- 
templated returning  home  from  Frankfort.  He  wrote  to 
Castlereagh  : 

I  write  as  if  I  looked  forward  to  eternity,  but  it  is  only  the 
peculiarity  of  my  situation  which  renders  it  tolerable — and 
that  does  not  bring  me  my  children.  You  know  my  bargain  ? 
When  I  look  back  on  what  I  have  done,  I  feel  perfectly 
confident  that  I  have  laid  a  foundation  of  friendship  and 
cordiality  which  may  be  easily  preserved  and  turned  to  the 
best  account.  If  we  are  to  have  negotiation  and  you  chuse  me 
to  stay,  I  will  do  my  best,  and  with  the  utmost  pleasure  ;  but  if 
the  war  continues  I  think  of  home.  Parliament  has  met,  and 
although  I  am  not  a  regular  performer,  that  is  the  scene  after 
all.  To  assist  you  I  would  do  this,  or  almost  anything  else,  but 
I  lean  towards  home. 

On  the  receipt  of  Napoleon's  acceptance  of  the  bases  ot 
negotiation  sent  from  Frankfort,  Count  Pozzo  di  Borgo  was 
despatched  to  England  with  the  news,  and  furnished  with 
the  views  of  the  three  allied  powers  respecting  them.  He 
was  also  the  bearer  of  their  request  that  Lord  Aberdeen 
might  be  appointed  the  English  negotiator,  as  equally  ac- 
ceptable to  all  the  three  Governments,  and  fully  acquainted 
with  the  feehngs  of  each.  Lord  Aberdeen  had  intended 
to  accompany  Pozzo  to  England,  but  forbore  doing  so, 
partly  because  he  did  not  wish  to  have  the  appearance  of 
pressing  his  own  claims,  and  partly  because  his  presence  at 
headquarters  could  ill  be  spared.  He  wrote  to  Lady  Maria 
on  October  22  : 

I  have  met  with  quite  enough  to  turn  a  stouter  brain  ;  do 
not  think  me  too  arrogant,  but  I  really  assure  you  that  you  can 
scarcely  imagine  the  position  in  which  I  stand.  Events  of  im- 
portance unparalleled  are  passing  through  my  hands.  Enjoying 
the  confidence  of  the  Austrian  Government,  the  first  member 


GERMAN    CHARACTER  49 

ot  this  great  confederation,  and  consulted  by  the  minister  with- 
out reserve,  and  with  almost  as  little  reserve  by  the  minister  of 
Russia,  you  may  have  some  notion  of  the  objects  of  my  atten- 
tion. Yet  would  I  leave  them  all  with  pleasure  were  I  sure  I 
could  do  it  also  with  dignity.  When  I  see  the  picture  of  the 
dear  children  everything  sinks  in  importance. 

On  the  arrival  in  London  of  Pozzo  di  Borgo,  the  English 
Cabinet,  after  a  careful  consideration  of  the  various  com- 
munications of  which  he  was  the  bearer,  decided  that  Lord 
Castlereagh  himself  should  proceed  to  the  Continent,  and 
confer  on  the  spot  with  the  allied  sovereigns  and  their 
ministers. 

Meanwhile  the  allied  armies  moved  forward  to  the  French 
frontier. 

Lord   Aberdeen's   almost   daily  letters   to  Lady  Maria 

Hamilton  form  a  sort  of  journal  of  this  advance,  and  are 

in  many  ways  full  of  interest.     The  following  extract  will 

convey  an  idea  of  their  character  : 

I  like  the  Germans  better  on  better  acquaintance.  They 
are  a  good  people.  The  Emperor  is  as  good  a  man  as  any  in 
his  dominions,  in  all  the  essentials  of  goodness  :  a  good  hus- 
band and  father,  a  man  of  truth  and  honour,  and  as  a  sovereign 
benignant  and  just.  But  it  is  not  among  the  conspicuous  per- 
sons of  the  Court  that  I  should  wish  to  judge.  In  the  sort  of 
life  I  have  led  it  has  been  my  chance  to  be  the  guest  of  all 
ranks,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  one  night  sleeping  in  a 
palace,  another  in  a  cottage.  I  have  been  generally  a  forced 
guest,  it  is  true,  and  might  therefore  have  found  the  worst  side 
apparent.  I  have,  on  the  contrary,  always  been  struck  by  the 
goodness,  the  bonhomie^  the  honesty  of  all  ranks.  Madame 
de  Stael  describes  them  well ;  poetically,  but  well.  I  have  not 
yet  had  time  to  finish  her  second  volume  ;  but  I  certainly  agree 
with  you  as  to  what  she  says  of  their  literature,  so  far  as  I  under- 
stand it,  for  it  is  a  little  rash  to  pronounce  at  once  without  a 
more  thorough  knowledge  of  their  language.  It  is  clear  that 
Madame  de  Stael  does  not  enter  fully  into  the  spirit  of  English 
composition,  nor  can  she  understand  it.  But  is  not  this  the 
case  with  all  nations  ?  There  is  a  degree  of  intimate  knowledge 
which  a  stranger  can  never  attain  to.  Besides  which,  there  is 
a  national  feeling,  a  sort  of  attachment,  which  you  may  call 
prejudice  if  you  will,  but  which  even  in  this  case  is  perhaps  a 
virtue,  by  which  we  are  rendered  partial  judges.     It  is  like  a 


50  LORD   ABERDEEN 

face  which  is  dear  to  us  ;  when  we  know  and  love  the  mind 
we  cannot  bear  the  frigid  criticisms  of  a  stranger  on  the  features 
in  which  it  is  exhibited.  I  by  no  means  deny  the  justice  of 
her  general  remarks  on  English  literature  ;  but  to  tell  you  the 
truth,  I  take  the  liberty  of  receiving  all  criticisms  of  this  sort 
with  great  indifference.  To  feel  strongly,  to  enjoy  fully,  what 
appear  to  me  beauties  is  the  first  point  ;  to  make  others  feel 
and  enjoy  them  too  augments  the  pleasure  twofold,  provided 
they  are  persons  whose  sensations  are  worthy  of  exciting 
interest.  But  I  must  have  done  for  to-night ;  all  this  I  could 
have  told  you  just  as  well  at  home.  Freyburg,  i8th  Decem- 
ber.— At  Offenburg  we  came  to  the  edge  of  the  Black  Forest ; 
we  have  skirted  it  all  to-day.  This  town  is  situated  at  the 
entrance  of  a  gorge  leading  into  the  forest,  and  is  backed  by 
fine  hills  covered  with  wood.  I  have  long  wished  to  see  the 
Black  Forest.  I  have  always  heard  much  of  its  picturesque 
beauty  ;  and  you  know  it  is  the  native  country  of  the  banditti, 
assassins,  and  all  heroes  of  that  sort  who  figure  in  romances. 
I  am  glad  to  see  that  there  is  a  fair  proportion  of  fine  oak  and 
beechwood,  and  that  it  is  not  only  the  eternal  Scotch  or  spruce 
fir.  The  forms  seem  to  be  fine,  the  hills  rocky,  and  plenty  of 
torrents,  so  I  shall  have  employment  for  some  days.  I  hope  I 
do  not  tire  you  by  writing  of  nothing  but  the  appearance  of  the 
country  and  beautiful  scenery.  We  are  old  fellow-travellers, 
and  you  know  there  is  nothing  which  at  all  times  has  so 
benignant  an  influence  over  me  as  the  enjoyment  of  nature. 
It  is  so  pure  and  unmixed,  it  is  so  perfectly  within  our  power 
at  all  times  and  in  all  places,  and  it  is  so  intense,  that  I  think 
those  persons  who  do  not  possess  it  are  much  to  be  pitied. 
They  have  a  sense  the  less.  .  .  . 

During  the  three  weeks  spent  by  Lord  Aberdeen  at 
Freiburg  and  in  its  vicinity,  he  found  ample  exercise  for  all 
his  powers  in  appeasing  the  dissensions  of  the  allies,  which, 
though  constantly  made  up,  broke  out  from  time  to  time 
to  a  most  alarming  degree.  On  one  occasion  the  Emperor 
Alexander  gave  orders  to  suspend  the  onward  progress  of 
his  forces,  and  threatened  to  withdraw  them  altogether 
from  the  scene  of  action.  Whilst  at  Frankfort  it  had  been 
agreed  by  the  allied  sovereigns,  and  the  Emperor  Alexander 
among  them,  that  the  allied  forces  should  enter  France 
through  Switzerland,  the  neutrality  of  which,  they  held, 
could  not  in  existing  circumstances  claim  to  be  respected. 


SWISS   NEUTRALITY  5  I 

But  Alexander  subsequently  changed  his  mind,  and  an- 
nounced that  he  should  consider  the  entrance  of  the 
Austrian  forces  into  Switzerland  as  a  declaration  of  war 
against  himself.  Prince  Metternich  was  determined  not  to 
permit  the  advance  of  the  allies  to  be  thus  interrupted,  but 
spared  no  pains  to  disarm  the  Russian  opposition,  and  by 
wonderfully  skilful  management  succeeded  in  so  doing.  A 
revolution  was  easily  effected  in  Switzerland,  the  old  cantonal 
governments  being  restored  in  most  cases  by  the  very  officers 
who  presided  over  the  state  as  constituted  by  Napoleon. 
The  Austrians  were  then  invited  by  the  new  Government  to 
pass  through  Switzerland,  and  the  invitation  was  accepted. 

The  Emperor  Alexander  was  compelled  to  admit  that  it 
was  necessary  to  take  advantage  of  the  favourable  disposition 
of  the  Swiss  people,  but  still  adhered  to  his  former  opinions 
as  to  the  principle  of  the  measure.  Prince  Metternich,  as 
Lord  Aberdeen  wrote,  '  wisely  did  not  dispute  the  principle 
laid  down,  being  content  to  have  secured  the  Emperor's 
conformity  of  conduct.'  Lord  Aberdeen,  who  had  seen  the 
Swiss  agents  at  Frankfort,  and  had  given  pecuniary  assist- 
ance to  effect  the  revolution,  warmly  seconded  him ;  and 
Sir  Robert  Wilson,  who  had  not  yet  gone  to  Italy,  had 
a  last  opportunity  of  displaying  the  extent  and  value  of  his 
influence  among  the  officers  of  the  Russian  army.  Before 
he  left  the  Austrian  headquarters  Sir  Robert  received  from 
tlie  Emperor  Francis  the  coveted  and  rare  gift  of  the 
Commander's  Cross  of  Maria  Theresa,  one  of  the  highest 
of  military  distinctions,  and  one  which  by  the  laws  of  the 
Order  can  only  be  bestowed  for  services  of  the  most 
brilliant  description.  The  Emperor  at  the  same  time 
conferred  on  Lord  Aberdeen  the  great  Hungarian  order 
of  St.  Stephen,  never  given  to  any  other  Englishman,  and 
rarely  to  any  foreigner  unless  of  royal  rank. 

E  2 


52  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Lord  Aberdeen,  notwithstanding  the  settlement  of  the 
quarrel  as  to  Switzerland,  continued  to  regard  the  relations 
of  the  allies  with  the  utmost  alarm,  and  the  tension  was 
such  that  he  wrote  on  the  19th  December:  'Notwith- 
standing our  brilliant  successes,  every  day  convinces  me 
more  and  more  that  if  we  can  contrive  to  negotiate  a 
tolerable  peace  at  this  moment  we  shall  adopt  the  only 
means  of  securing  our  advantages.'  It  was  at  Freiburg 
that  Lord  Aberdeen  received  intelligence  from  Castlereagh 
of  his  intention  to  repair  to  the  Continent.  The  intimation, 
on  the  whole,  gave  him  pleasure,  although  he  felt  uncertain 
as  to  the  effect  which  Castlereagh's  presence  on  the  scene 
might  have.     To  Lord  Abercorn  he  wrote  : 

I  am  not  certain  if  the  arrival  of  Castlereagh  will  do  good. 
It  may,  if  he  acts  wisely  ;  but  if  he  comes  with  all  the  partiali- 
ties and  prejudices  long  cherished  in  England,  his  presence 
will  be  most  pernicious.  Personally,  I  am  much  satisfied,  for 
I  wish  for  nothing  more  than  that  he  should  judge  on  the  spot 
of  the  effect  of  all  my  intercourse  with  the  Austrian  Govern- 
ment, and  the  other  powers. 

Lord  Castlereagh  arrived  at  Basle  on  the  19th  January. 
He  was  at  first  somewhat  inclined  to  conduct  the  negotia- 
tions for  peace  himself,  but  assured  Lord  Aberdeen  that 
should  he  not  do  so  he  would  certainly  confide  their  con- 
duct to  him,  by  whom  they  had  been  really  commenced  at 
Frankfort.  Castlereagh  did  not  come  to  any  decision  for 
ten  days,  and  during  that  time  Lord  Aberdeen,  rather  against 
his  will,  felt  bound  to  remain  with  him. 

Castlereagh  has  not  made  up  his  mind  how  the  negotia- 
tion shall  be  conducted  (he  wrote  to  Lord  Abercorn),  and  I 
am  bound  to  wait  for  his  decision.  I  think  it  most  probable 
that  he  will  manage  it  all  himself,  in  which  case  I  think  he  will 
scarcely  have  treated  me  fairly  in  not  coming  to  a  decision 
sooner,  because  my  departure  at  this  moment  cannot  but  be 
misunderstood.  Whatever  be  the  result,  my  presence  at  this 
moment  is  very  useful  to  Castlereagh,  and  I  am  sure  he  feels 
it,  which  makes  a  short  delay  tolerable. 


ADVANCE   INTO   FRANCE  53 

Of  the  advance  into  France  Lord  Aberdeen  wrote  from 

Vesoul  on  the  24th  January  : 

This  being  the  third  day  of  my  journey  in  France,  if  I 
write  to  you  everywhere  else,  you  may  well  expect  to  hear  from 
me  now.  Even  a  letter  which  contains  nothing  must  be 
received  with  satisfaction  when  written  at  the  present  moment 
a  hundred  miles  within  the  French  territory.  .  .  .  The  uni- 
versal cry  is  for  peace  ;  they  all  abuse  Napoleon  as  the  author 
of  their  sufferings,  but  do  not  appear  to  have  any  desire  to 
change  the  dynasty.  I  have  only  heard  one  man  speak  in 
favour  of  the  Bourbons  ;  yet  I  doubt  not,  if  they  thought  that 
the  return  of  the  Royal  Family  was  an  indispensable  condition 
of  peace,  they  would  be  too  happy  to  agree  to  it.  The  con- 
scription is  the  dreadful  engine  by  which  they  are  oppressed  ; 
no  family  is  without  cause  of  lamentation.  It  is  not  only  the 
extensive  destruction  which  ensues  of  those  who  march,  but 
numbers  are  torn  from  their  homes  under  circumstances  in 
which  to  survive  is  almost  worse  than  death.  In  other 
respects  they  have  not  much  to  complain  of.  The  taxes  are 
not  immoderate  ;  the  cottages  appear  to  be  good,  and  the 
people  not  ill-clad.  The  country  through  which  we  have 
passed  is  extremely  beautiful  ;  diversified  with  hills,  valleys, 
and  fine  woods  of  oak  and  beech.  It  is  well  cultivated,  and 
the  high  roads  are  most  magnificent.  The  people  are  very 
civil  and  well-disposed,  and  do  not  suffer  more  than  is  in- 
separable from  the  passage  of  so  large  an  army  composed  of 
such  different  materials.  Schwartzenberg  does  his  best  to 
observe  the  strictest  discipline,  but  nothing  can  prevent  the 
excesses  of  the  Cossacks  and  Russians.  It  is  a  little  difficult 
to  find  the  means  of  conveyance  when  such  a  multitude  of 
horses  is  required  for  the  service  of  the  army.  All  the  horses 
of  the  country  are  put  in  requisition,  and  the  peasants  are 
happy  if  they  ever  see  these  animals  again  when  once  they  are 
taken.  We  have  surprised  them  very  much  by  paying  for 
them.  In  Germany  it  is  the  custom  for  one  man  to  ride  and 
drive  four  horses,  or  even  six  ;  here  I  have  had  four  horses 
brought  from  different  ploughs  and  each  required  to  be  ridden, 
so  that  with  my  four  postilions,  in  the  most  grotesque  and 
various  dresses  imaginable,  I  have  exhibited  a  singular  attelage. 
In  all  this  confusion  and  distress  the  people  do  not  lose  their 
gaiety.  Poor  fellows  who  have  been  plundered  of  everything 
in  the  world,  and  beaten  for  not  possessing  more,  intersperse 
their  narratives  with  jokes.  They  all  do  full  justice  to  the 
position  of  our  nation,  and  give  us  even  more  credit  than  we 
deserve  with  respect  to  this  great  confederacy.  I  was  a  little 
shocked,  however,  last  night,  to  find  that  my  host,  a  decent 
man,  the  notary-public  of  the  town,  had  never  heard  the  name 
of  Lord  Wellington. 


54  LORD   ABERDEEN 

On  January  29  Lord  Castlereagh  arrived  at  the  decision 
that,  as  neither  Prince  Metternich  nor  Count  Nesselrode 
proposed  to  act  as  negotiators  themselves,  neither  would  he. 
His  first  intention  was  to  employ  Lord  Aberdeen  alone  as 
the  British  plenipotentiary.     But  when  this  became  known 
to  Lord  Cathcart  and  Sir  Charles  Stewart,  as  well  as  the 
fact  that  Lord  Aberdeen  attended  meetings  of  the  minis- 
ters of  the  four  Powers,  from  which  they  were  excluded, 
their  discontent  was  so  violent,  and  seemed  likely  to  have 
such  prejudicial  consequences,  that  Castlereagh  was  induced 
to  hesitate,  and  begged  Lord  Aberdeen,  while  himself  re- 
maining '  the  sole  efficient  person,  to  make  all  reports,  to  be 
the  sole  mouthpiece  and  generally  the  negotiator,'  to  consent 
that  Lord  Cathcart  and  Sir  Charles  Stewart  should  act  along 
with  him  as  assistants  in  '  a  sort  of  Cabinet.'     Castlereagh 
told  Lord  Aberdeen  that  although  one  of  the  disappointed 
negotiators  \vas  his  own  brother,  he  should  have  thought  no- 
thing of  their  dissatisfaction  had  it  not  been  for  the  oppor- 
tunity of  serious  mischief  which  might  be  given  by  the  in- 
sinuation, that  the  appointment  of  the  ambassador  to  Austria 
as  the  sole  English  plenipotentiary  showed  a  disposition  to 
disregard  the  interests  of  Russia  and  Prussia,  and  begged 
Lord  Aberdeen,  in  language  of  the  most  earnest  entreaty,  to 
agree  to  an  arrangement  which  he  felt  he  could  not  require, 
and  could  hardly  expect  him  to  accept. 

For  his  compliance  with  Lord  Castlereagh's  wishes  Lord 
Aberdeen  was  severely  taken  to  task  by  many  of  his  friends. 
Lord  Abercorn  especially  wrote  to  censure  his  sacrificing 
himself  by  'playing  into  Lord  Castlereagh's  and  his  brother's 
hands.  All  praise  will  be  arrogated  by  Lord  Cathcart  and 
his  extensive  connections,  and  blame  and  unpopularity  you 
will  studiously  be  made  to  share.'  But  it  is  clear  that  the 
principles  on  which  he  invariably  acted  left  Lord  Aberdeen 


CONGRESS  OF  CHATILLON  55 

really  no  option,  and  that  a  refusal  by  him  of  the  chief  con- 
duct of  the  negotiation  could  only  have  been  based  on 
personal  considerations,  which  would  not  on  public  grounds 
have  afforded  any  justification  of  his  action. 

The  negotiators  arrived  at  Chatillon  on  February  3  ;  and 
on  the  5th  held  their  first  conference  with  the  Duke  of 
Vicenza.  It  was  chiefly  occupied  by  matters  of  form,  but 
Caulaincourt  showed  an  unexpected  readiness  to  meet  the 
wishes  of  the  aUies. 

The  result  (wrote  Lord  Aberdeen  to  Castlereagh)  I  believe 
none  of  us  anticipated,  although  I  think  it  necessary  to  wait 
for  our  next  meeting  before  we  can  attempt  satisfactorily  to  ex- 
plain the  cause  of  the  wonderful  facility  evinced  by  the  French 
plenipotentiary.  Different  motives  may  be  easily  assigned  for 
his  conduct  :  Napoleon  may  be  so  much  reduced  in  his  means 
of  resistance  as  to  make  him  desirous  of  concluding  a  negotia- 
tion on  any  terms  which  would  leave  him  on  the  throne  of 
France.  Or  he  may  make  these  preliminary  concessions  in 
order  to  place  himself  in  a  favourable  light  with  the  people,  and 
thereby  endeavour  to  excite  a  spirit  of  enthusiasm  with  the 
view  of  ultimately  resisting  the  more  important  demands  of  the 
allies.  At  the  same  time  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  the  French 
negotiator  has  hitherto  only  made  those  concessions  which 
would  be  agreed  to  by  any  wise  man  desirous  of  concluding  a 
peace  on  those  moderate  and  equitable  terms  which  are  best 
calculated  to  ensure  its  duration. 

On  the  7th  a  second  conference  was  held,  at  which  it 
became  apparent  that  the  French  plenipotentiary  was  ready 
to  acquiesce  substantially  in  the  demands  of  the  allies,  and 
Lord  Aberdeen  wrote  to  Castlereagh  that  he  thought  it  was 
'now  evident  that  the  French  Government  entertains  a 
sincere  and  earnest  desire  of  peace.' 

Had  Napoleon  accepted,  in  the  first  instance,  the  pro 
positions  brought  to  him  by  M.  de  St.  Aignan,  the  allies 
were  pledged  to  leave  to  France  the  frontier  of  the  Rhine. 
While  he  hesitated,  the  revolt  of  Holland  took  place,  which 
materially  altered  the  situation  ;  but  even  when  he  did  accept 
he  might  have  secured  a  frontier  considerably  to  the  north 


56  LORD   ABERDEEN 

of  that  of  Royal  France,  had  the  negotiation  commenced 
immediately.     Castlereagh's  intimation  that  he  intended  to 
take  a  personal  part  in  the  discussion,  however,  necessarily 
caused  some  delay,  and  when  the  conferences  at  Chatillon 
actually  opened,  the  armies  of  the  allies  had  advanced  far 
into  France,  while  the  Low  Countries,  as  well  as  Holland, 
were  in  full  revolt.     As  a  result  of  the  successes  obtained 
and  the  actual  position  of  affairs,  the  allied  demands  now 
comprised  the  reduction  of  France  to  the  limits  of  the  mon- 
archy of  1792,  instead  of  leaving  the  Rhine  as  the  frontier. 
Caulaincourt   at   the   conference  on    the   7th    applied 
for  an  armistice,  but  was  told  that  the  signature  of  pre- 
liminaries of  peace  would  answer  the  same  purpose,  and 
prove  a  more  effectual  step.     There   can  be   little   doubt 
that  at  the  next  conference  the  terms  of  the  preliminary 
treaty  would  have  been  adjusted,  possibly  the  treaty  itself 
signed.     That  the  British  Government  was  fully  prepared 
for  such  a  step  is  shown  by  the  following  laconic  note  from 
Castlereagh  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  written   in   answer   to   an 
inquiry  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  pacific  dispositions 
of  Caulaincourt  were  to  be  met  :  '  My  dear  Aberdeen,  we 
must  sign.     Certainly  we  must  sign.     We  shall  be  stoned 
when  we  get  back  to  England,  but  we  must  sign.— Yours 
ever,  C     Nor  do  either  the  protocols  of  the  conference, 
or  Lord  Aberdeen's  public  reports  or  private  letters,  show 
any  trace  of  the  indignation  or  inflexibility  attributed  by 
M.  Thiers  to  Caulaincourt.*     On  the  contrary,  it  is   clear 
that  to  have  obtained  an  armistice  he  would  have  assented 
to  the  allies'  terms,  and  (possessing,  as  he  at  that  time  did, 
full  powers  to  do  so)  would  probably  have  signed  preliminaries 
of  peace  to  ensure  it.     But  on  February  9th  the  unexpected 
action  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  suspended  that  of  the  con- 

'  Histoire  du  Consulat  et  de  PEmpire^  torn.  xvii.  pp.  292-296. 


INTRIGUE   WITH    BERNADOTTE  57 

ference.  On  the  morning  of  that  day  the  Russian  pleni- 
potentiary received  orders  to  proceed  no  further  until  fresh 
instructions  had  reached  him.  Lord  Aberdeen  was  highly 
indignant  at  a  proceeding  which  was  in  fact  inconsistent 
with  good  faith.  The  Emperor  Alexander's  head  had  been 
turned  by  the  victory  (though  a  hardly  bought  one)  of 
La  Rothiere,  and  he  desired  to  treat  no  longer  with 
Napoleon,  but  to  press  on  to  Paris,  and  there  leave,  at 
least  in  name,  the  choice  of  a  French  sovereign  to  an 
elective  assembly.  But  behind  this  proposal  lurked  what 
Lord  Aberdeen  styled  a  '  dark  intrigue'  of  Russian  aggran- 
disement. It  was  to  be  arranged  that  this  nominally  free, 
but  virtually  packed,  assembly  should  elect  Bernadotte  king 
of  France;  and  that,  in  gratitude  for  so  great  a  service, 
the  Prince  Royal  of  Sweden,  before  surrendering  his  con- 
nection with  that  country,  should  make  over  to  Russia  the 
ever  open  haven  of  Varanger  Fiord.  •  But  this  scheme 
received  a  double  check.  When  the  possibility  of  Ber- 
nadotte's  election  was  hinted  at  to  the  Emperor  Francis, 
he  at  once  declared  that  he  would  not  suffer  any  such 
scheme  to  take  effect.  He  was,  he  said,  quite  prepared  to 
assist  in  dethroning  his  daughter's  husband,  if  the  welfare 
of  Europe  rendered  such  a  step  essential,  and  if  it  were 
apparent  that  peace  on  fit  terms  could  not  be  otherwise 
secured  ;  but  he  was  not  prepared  to  do  so  for  the  benefit 
of  a  French  adventurer.  If  Napoleon  were  indeed  to  be 
deposed,  he  would  treat  with  no  sovereign  of  France  save 
Louis  XVIII.  An  even  more  fatal  blow  to  such  pretensions 
was  given  by  Napoleon  himself,  who,  in  the  ten  days  which 
succeeded  La  Rothiere,  gained  a  series  of  brilliant  victo- 
ries, which  necessitated  a  retreat  of  the  allied  forces,  and 
which  seemed  to  render  their  expulsion  from  France  more 
'  In  the  newly  acquired  part  of  Norway. 


58  LORD  ABERDEEN 

probable  tlian  their  advance  to  Paris — a  state  of  things  which 
changed  the  over-sanguine  anticipations  of  the  Emperor 
Alexander  into  equally  exaggerated  alarm  and  despondency, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  restored  all  Napoleon's  overween- 
ing confidence  in  his  own  good  fortune. 

When,  therefore,  the  conferences  were  by  mutual  agree- 
ment resumed  on  February  17,  the  plenipotentiaries  natu- 
rally found  Caulaincourt  in  a  different  frame  of  mind  from 
that  in  which  they  left  him,  and  far  less  ready  to  accept 
the  terms  of  the  allies  than  had  been  the  case  a  week  before. 
They  found  him  also  in  a  very  different  position,  though 
that,  indeed,  they  could  not  know.  At  the  earlier  meetings 
of  the  conference  he  was  in  possession  of  full  powers  to 
sign  any  engagement  which  he  felt  to  be  essential.  These 
powers,  originally  granted  with  reluctance  and  wrung  from 
Napoleon  with  the  utmost  difficulty,  had  now  been  recalled, 
and  Caulaincourt  had  been  instructed  to  sign  nothing 
without  previous  reference  to  the  French  Emperor. 

Notwithstanding  the  recent  reverses  of  the  allies,  it  had 
been  wisely  determined  that  there  should  be  no  diminution 
in  their  demands,  and  on  the  renewal  of  the  conference  the 
sketch  of  a  preliminary  treaty  was  submitted  to  the  French 
plenipotentiary  for  his  consideration.  The  main  conditions 
of  this  draft  were  the  renunciation  by  France  of  all  acquisi- 
tions of  territory  made  since  1792,  and  the  abandonment 
by  the  Emperor  of  all  direct  or  indirect  constitutional  in- 
fluence possessed  by  him  beyond  the  limits  of  France  as 
King  of  Italy,  Protector  of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine, 
and  Mediator  of  Switzerland.  Some  of  the  minor  terms 
were  harsh,  but  would  no  doubt  have  been  modified  had 
these  essential  points  been  conceded.  These  concessions 
Caulaincourt  pressed  his  master  to  make,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  strenuously  sought   to  render   the  sacrifice   more 


CONVERSATIONS  WITH  CAULAINCOURT  59 

palatable  by  procuring  counter  concessions  with  regard  to 

the  princes   and   states  dependent   upon  France,  and   by 

modifying   the   language   of    the   treaty.      He   told    Lord 

Aberdeen  (so  the  latter  wrote  to  Castlereagh)  that 

though  he  was  ready  to  make  the  same  sacrifices  for  peace  as 
when  he  first  came  to  Chatillon,  we  [the  allies]  had  done  every- 
thing in  our  power  by  the  form  of  the  projet  to  make  it  difficult. 
He  said  that  he  must  be  supposed  to  know  his  own  master,  and 
that  he  was  satisfied  he  might  have  so  changed  the  form,  with- 
out altering  the  substance,  as  to  make  it  palatable  to  Bonaparte 
instead  of  being  revolting. 

Lord  Aberdeen  told  him  that  there  was  '■  no  intention 
to  offend  or  degrade,  and  that  if  the  provisions  were 
substantially  obtained  no  attachment  existed  to  a  particu- 
lar phraseology.'  Caulaincourt  particularly  complained  of 
the  insertion  of  an  article  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade  : 

'  a  fit  article  to  insert  in  a  treaty  with  Denmark^  but  not  with  us. 
If  you  wish  to  abolish  the  slave  trade  we  will  meet  you  half- 
way, and  arrange  it  between  ourselves,  but  the  compulsory 
article  you  have  inserted  can  never  be  tolerated  by  a  great 
people,  who  are  not  yet  in  a  situation  to  be  insulted  with  perfect 
impunity.'  Again,  he  said  :  '  You  represent  all  Europe.  You 
say  you  treat  for  your  allies,  and  profess  to  bind  them  by  their 
engagements,  and  yet  you  offer  your  good  offices  in  order  to 
persuade  Sweden  to  give  up  Guadaloupe  to  France.'  He  said 
that  if  there  were  anything  in  the  world  which  could  be  revolting 
to  Bonaparte,  it  was  to  employ  good  offices  with  Bernadotte  in 
order  to  obtain  the  colony.  He  said  a  good  deal  about  the 
personal  character  of  Bonaparte,  and  how  much  would  be  done 
by  a  little  attention  to  manner.  He  spoke  in  perfectly  good 
humour,  and  said  all  this  in  a  half-laughing  manner. 

But  though  negotiations  had  been  resumed,  and  the 
draft  of  a  treaty  agreed  to  among  the  allies,  the  uncer- 
tain attitude  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia  still  caused  great 
difficulties. 

Castlereagh  wrote  to  Lord  Aberdeen  on  the  25  th  : 

The  political  question  has  been  miserably  prejudiced  by 
opposite  extremes  of  mismanagement ;  at  one  time  too  proud 
to  listen  to  anything,  at  another  so  impatient  to  be  delivered 


6o  LORD   ABERDEEN 

from  the  pressure  of  our  enemy  as  to  make  our  propositions  at 
Chatillon  almost  ludicrous. 

Lord  Aberdeen  continued  desirous  to  effect  peace, 
though  quite  aware  of  the  unpopularity  which  would  in 
England  attach  to  any  peace  made  with  Bonaparte.  '  If 
he  lives,'  he  wrote,  *  you  must  make  it,  for  there  is  no 
chance  of  any  other  person.  .  .  .  The  terms  of  peace  are 
unobjectionable — in  a  word,  we  insist  on  the  limits  of 
ancient  France  as  a  basis,  preliminary  to  any  other  proceed- 
ing. This  ought  to  satisfy  you.  As  to  making  war  against 
the  man,  it  may  become  necessary,  but  must  be  hopeless  so 
long  as  the  people  adhere  to  him.'  But  the  chief  reason 
which  weighed  with  Lord  Aberdeen  in  desiring  peace  was 
the  apprehension  caused  him  by  the  mutual  jealousies  of 
the  great  powers.  Writing  to  Castlereagh  on  the  28th,  he 
says  : 

The  enemy  is,  in  my  view,  a  source  oi  danger  much  less  to 
be  dreaded  than  what  arises  among  ourselves.  I  cannot  too 
often  represent  to  you  the  real  state  of  the  minds  of  those  weak 
men  by  whom  Europe  is  governed.  The  seeming  agreement  at 
Langres  covered  distrust  and  hate.  A  little  success  will  cement 
them  again,  but  if  they  are  to  be  severely  tried  by  adversity 
their  dissolution  is  certain.  It  is  not  a  bystander  who  speaks, 
but  one  who  knows  what  their  real  feelings  are,  and  who  knows 
that  they  are  actuated  by  feelings  more  than  by  principle.  In 
all  events  I  am  heartily  rejoiced  that  you  are  in  a  situation  to 
see  and  judge  for  yourself  in  all  things.  It  will  do  you  no  harm 
to  see  and  know  the  interior  of  a  coalition. 

On  February  28,  no  answer  having  been  returned  by 
Caulaincourt  to  the  projet  submitted  to  him  for  accept- 
ance ten  days  previously,  he  was  informed  that  if  another 
ten  days  elapsed  without  any  reply  being  given  it  would  be 
regarded  as  a  refusal  on  the  part  of  France  to  entertain  the 
proposals  of  the  allies.  For  ten  days,  therefore,  the  con- 
ferences were  suspended  ;  the  plenipotentiaries  remained 
idle,  and  unpleasantly  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  hostile 
population. 


caulaincourt's  counter-project  6 1 

The  peasants  are  rapidly  arming  (writes  Lord  Aberdeen  on 
the  28th),  and  the  people  of  the  town  go  out  in  parties  to  hunt 
and  shoot  the  stragglers.  They  have  killed  about  forty  Austrian 
soldiers  between  this  place  and  Dijon.  They  appear  to  be  most 
enraged  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  this  place,  and  we 
are  advised  not  to  go  far  from  the  gates.  The  Mayor  has 
published  a  most  touching  address  to  the  inhabitants  on  our 
behalf,  from  which  one  would  almost  imagine  they  were  anthro- 
pophagi, and  required  much  persuasion  to  prevent  them  from 
devouring  us. 

On  March  loth  Caulaincourt  presented  to  the  Con- 
ference a  long  note  arguing  against  the  proposals  of  the 
allies  as  a  whole.  He  was  at  once  told  that  this  was  not  an 
answer  to  their  projet^  and  he  then  produced  a  list  of  the 
cessions  which  Napoleon  was  ready  to  make.  This  list, 
Lord  Aberdeen  expressed  his  conviction  to  Lord  Castle- 
reagh,  had  not  been  received  by  Caulaincourt  from  his 
master,  but  had  been  composed  at  Chatillon.  The  Duke 
of  Vicenza  was  informed  that  this  paper,  though  an  accept- 
ance in  part  of  the  proposals  of  the  allies,  was  not  that 
absolute  reply  to  them  for  which  they  had  a  right  to  look, 
and  on  the  1 3th  he  was  pressed  to  return,  within  twenty-four 
hours,  either  an  acceptance  or  refusal  of  the  terms  submitted 
to  him,  or  to  propose  2i  contre-projet  of  his  own.  After  a 
good  deal  of  fencing  on  his  part,  and  a  not  unreasonable 
demand  for  time  to  communicate  again  with  his  Court,  he 
agreed  to  present  a  contre-projet  in  twenty-four  hours,  and 
actually  did  so  in  forty-eight.  This  contreprojet  contained 
no  renunciation  of  possessions  acquired  by  France  since 
1792,  excepting  such  as  were  specifically  named,  and  con 
sequently  maintained  the  Rhine  throughout  its  course  as 
the  frontier  of  France.  It  proposed  to  recognise  Eugene 
Beauharnais  as  King  of  Italy,  to  which  state  the  Ionian 
Islands  were  to  be  attached.  Stipulations  were  also  intro- 
duced for  the  retention  of  the  principality  of  Benevento  by 


62  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Talleyrand,  of  the  principality  of  Neufchatel  by  Berthier,  of 

the  grand  duchies  of  Lucca  and  Parma  by  Eliza  Bonaparte, 

and  of  the  grand  duchy  of  Berg  by  a  son  of  King  Louis 

and  Queen  Hortense.   These  propositions  were  unanimously 

considered  by  the  plenipotentiaries  to  be  inadmissible  even 

as  topics  for  discussion,  but  they  were  nevertheless  referred 

by  them  to  the  allied  sovereigns,  by  whom  they  were  at 

once  rejected.     The  conferences  therefore  terminated,  and 

Lord   Aberdeen   returned   to   the    allied    headquarters  on 

March  21.    Four  days  later  Caulaincourt  desired  to  accept 

the  allied  terms  as  they  stood,  and  intimated  his  readiness 

to  proceed  to  the  headquarters  of  the  army  for  that  purpose. 

It  was  then  too  late. 

M.  Thiers  ^  more  than  insinuates  that  the  allies  never 

intended  to  make  peace,  and  that  the  terms  offered  were 

only  proposed  in  order  to  be  rejected.     That  this  was  not 

the  case  as  regards   the   earlier   stage  of   the  negotiation, 

prior  to  its  interruption  by  the    Emperor   of  Russia,  the 

short   note   of  Lord   Castlereagh,  which    I    have   already 

quoted,  abundantly  proves.     That  the  negotiators  on  the 

spot  did  not  after  the  resumption  of  the  conferences  expect 

peace,  is  true,  but  that  some  at  least  of  them  desired  it  is 

not  less  certain.     That  it  was  perhaps  less  desired  by  the 

members  of  Government   at    home,  who  did  not  see   so 

closely  the  dangers  to  which  the  alliance  was  exposed,  is 

also  probable  ;  but  they  too  were  prepared  to  accept  it.    Lord 

Liverpool  wrote  to  Lord  Aberdeen  so  late  as  March  2 1  : 

Peace,  if  it  comes,  will  be  most  unpopular  in  this  country. 
If  it  can  be  obtained,  however,  upon  our  own  terms,  I  shall  not 
fear  the  result.  We  shall  have  played  a  straight  game,  and  it 
is  a  problem,  to  say  the  least,  what  may  be  the  ultimate  conse- 
quence of  embarking  in  the  war  upon  a  new  principle.  We 
must  not,  however,  lower  our  terms. 

•  Histoire  du  Consiilat  et  de  V Empire,  torn.  xvii. 


BOURBON    RESTORATION  63 

And  Lord  Harrowby  on  the  1 1  th  had  written  : 

If  your  terms  were  yesterday  accepted  we  shall  feel  that  we 
ought  to  be  more  glad  than  we  shall  be.  .  .  ,  Whatever  other 
demerits  we  blocks  may  have,  we  have  at  least  the  merit  of 
jogging  on  side  by  side  with  great  cordiality.  We  shall  all 
swing  together  whenever  your  signature  at  Chatillon,  or  else- 
where, brings  us  to  the  gallows,  for  nothing  but  '  no  peace  with 
Bonaparte'  is  to  be  heard  from  the  Land's  End  to  Berwick. 

Until   the   conclusion  of  the  conferences  at  Chatillon 

Lord  Aberdeen  had  shown  himself  strongly  in  favour  of 

peace  with  Napoleon,  but  after  the  failure  of  that  negotiation 

he  began  to  think  more  favourably  of  the  restoration  of  the 

Bourbons.     He  wrote  from  Dijon  on  the  29th  March  : 

We  negotiated  in  the  hope  of  securing  such  a  peace  as  was 
the  real  object  of  the  war.  This  endeavour  has  failed.  Bona- 
parte has  shown  himself  too  obstinate  to  yield  to  such  conditions 
as  are  indispensable  for  the  tranquillity  of  Europe.  You  will 
recollect  that  I  have  always  represented  peace  as  the  grand 
object  of  the  French  nation  ;  and  this  is  the  engine  by  which 
we  must  work,  and  by  which  all  may  be  done.  We  must  show 
that  the  return  of  the  Bourbons  will  bring  peace,  and  that 
without  their  return  it  is  not  attainable  in  consequence  of  the 
ambition  of  Bonaparte.  When  convinced  of  this  fact,  the 
French  people  may  be  led  to  endure  any  prince,  or  support  any 
pretender  from  whom  they  can  receive  the  blessing  they  desire. 
These  are  my  views,  which  are  formed  by  the  present  position 
of  affairs,  and  which,  though  different  in  the  application,  are 
consistent  in  principle  with  those  I  have  always  entertained. 
For,  as  you  justly  say,  he  is  a  fool  who  does  not  allow  circum- 
stances to  modify  his  sentiments  and  system. 

And  on  the  4th  of  April,  also  from  Dijon,  he  wrote  : 

It  happened  that  the  news  of  the  taking  of  Paris  and  the 
defeat  of  the  enemy  arrived  here  this  morning.  I  had  all  the 
principal  persons  of  all  the  allied  nations  to  dine  with  me. 
We  appeared  with  the  white  cockade,  which  has  been  generally 
adopted  by  the  inhabitants  of  this  town.  This  step  was  the 
more  necessary  as  the  Emperor  of  Russia  in  his  declaration 
does  not  say  a  syllable  of  the  Bourbons  ;  it  was,  therefore,  in- 
cumbent on  us  to  explain  the  sense  in  which  we  understood  that 
document.  The  first  toast  I  gave  was  Louis  XVIII.  This  will 
do  great  good,  for  it  will  do  much  to  check  the  intrigue  which 
we  know  exists  to  a  great  extent  between  our  friend  the  Prince 
Royal  and  the  French  Government. 


64  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Lord  Aberdeen  was,  however,  no  believer  in  the  per- 
manence of  the  Bourbon  restoration.  He  at  once  perceived 
that  they  were  only  accepted  as  the  pledge  of  an  at  least 
temporary  peace,  and  that,  provided  peace  was  secured, 
the  nation 

would  have  hailed  the  re-establishment  of  the  Republic,  or  any 
other  system,  with  the  same  satisfaction.  .  .  .  The  people  showed 
it  very  clearly  by  their  exclamations  when  the  allies  entered 
Paris  :  '  Vive  la  Paix,  Vive  les  Allies,  Vive  qui  voudra ! ' 

Again,  after  a  month's  residence  in  Paris,  he  wrote  : 

Louis  XVI IL  has  no  root,  and  may  be  upset  by  a  Republic 
at  any  time  that  a  comparative  degree  of  prosperity  and  quiet 
has  been  restored.  .  .  .  On  the  day  of  the  king's  entry  the 
Guards  cried  out,  '  Vive  Napoleon,  Vive  I'Empereur  ! '  even 
close  to  the  king's  carriage.  It  is  very  lucky  for  the  Bourbons 
that  the  tyranny  of  Bonaparte  was  so  much  exercised  in 
carrying  on  the  war  so  unmercifully ;  none  of  his  acts  of 
interior  administration  would  produce  any  effect  against  him. 

Lord  Aberdeen  accompanied  the  army  to  Paris,  and 
was  one  of  the  plenipotentiaries  for  the  settlement  of  the 
general  treaty  of  peace.  As  Lord  Castlereagh  was  him- 
self present.  Lord  Aberdeen  took  but  a  subordinate  though 
not  unimportant  part  in  the  negotiation.  He  was,  for  several 
reasons,  most  eager  to  return  to  England,  but  Lord  Castle- 
reagh, as  was  usual  in  their  intercourse,  prevailed,  and  he 
remained  at  Paris  till  the  signature  of  the  treaty. 

The  baseness  of  the  desertions  from  Napoleon  of  his 
most  trusted  generals  greatly  disgusted  Lord  Aberdeen,  and 
yet  more  the  insolence  which  accompanied  it,  and  which  he 
describes  as  '  insufferable.'  One  singular  instance  is  worth 
recording.  *  I  dined  yesterday,'  wrote  he  to  Lord  Aber- 
corn,    'with  a  party  similar  to  that  I  met  at  Cathcart's,^ 

'  '  I  dined  yesterday  with  Cathcart,  and  was  the  only  civilian 
among  a  military  party  made  for  Wellington.  Seven  marshals  of  dif- 
ferent nations  were  at  dinner.   So  many,  I  suppose,  never  met  before. ' 


FOUCHJf.'s   SUGGESTION  65 

with  the  addition  of  Ney  and  Marmont.  Only  imagine  the 
effrontery  of  Ney,  by  whom  I  sat,  entertaining  me,  in  the 
presence  of  Lord  WelHngton  and  the  victorious  generals  of 
the  allies,  by  proof  of  the  ease  with  which  the  expedition 
to  England  would  have  succeeded  !  This  was  a  piece  of 
taste  and  good  breeding  to  which  none  but  a  Frenchman 
could  be  equal.  I  do  not  think  he  is  likely  to  return  to  the 
subject.' 

This  was,  however,  but  insolence,  more  or  less  pardonable 
on  the  part  of  a  humiliated  and  conquered  enemy,  desiring 
to  show  that  he  too  might  have  achieved  a  triumph  had 
the  wheel  of  fortune  taken  another  turn  ;  but  what  can  be 
said  for  the  callous  want  of  patriotism  of  Fouche  ?  He, 
in  conversation  with  Lord  Aberdeen,  reproached  the  allies 
for  having  left  France  too  strong,  and  suggested  that  they 
ought  to  have  parcelled  it  out  into  a  number  of  Grand 
Duchies.  On  its  being  remarked  that  Frenchmen  would 
not  have  endured  a  foreign  rule,  he  intimated  that  there 
were  Frenchmen  who  had  held  territory  in,  or  derived  titles 
from,  foreign  places,  who  would  be  quite  ready  to  exchange 
them  for  the  sovereignty  of  a  French  province,  and  gave 
it  to  be  understood  that  there  would  at  all  events  be 
no  scruple  on  that  head  on  the  part  of  the  Duke  of 
Otranto  ! 

Immediately  after  the  signature  of  the  treaty  Lord 
Aberdeen  started  for  England,  taking  the  treaty  with  him 
in  his  carriage. 


66  LORD  ABERDEEN 


CHAPTER    III 

SECOND   MARRIAGE — PRIVATE   LIFE  :    1814-1827 

Lord  Aberdeen's  second  marriage — Domestic  life — Letter  to  Castle- 
reagh  on  Greek  insurrection — The  Aberdeen  Acts— Joins  the 
Duke  of  Wellington's  Cabinet — Becomes  Foreign  Secretary. 

Lord  Aberdeen's  sister-in-law  and  correspondent,  Lady 
Maria  Hamilton,  whose  health  had  long  been  precarious, 
died  January  21,  18 14.  Her  death  had  been  a  heavy  blow 
to  Lord  Aberdeen,  who  was  tenderly  attached  to  her.  On 
reaching  London  on  the  31st  May  he  found  Argyll  House 
unprepared  for  his  reception,  his  arrival  having  at  the  last 
been  unexpected.  He  went  on  to  Lord  Harrowby's  house 
in  Grosvenor  Square,  and  there  learnt  that  a  fresh  calamity 
had  befallen  the  Abercorn  family.  Lord  Hamilton  had  just 
expired. 

The  death  of  Lord  Hamilton  had  consequences  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  Lord  Aberdeen. 

Lord  Abercorn  had  seen  his  infant  granddaughters  de- 
prived of  a  mother's  care  by  Lady  Aberdeen's  death.  His 
yet  younger  grandsons  were  now  without  a  father,  and  with 
the  whole  force  of  his  imperious  nature  he  at  once  determined 
to  bring  about  a  marriage  between  his  late  daughter's 
husband  and  his  son's  widow.  He  succeeded  in  accomplish- 
ing his  desire,  though  there  were  no  slight  obstacles  to  be 
overcome.  On  July  15,  181 5,  Lord  Aberdeen  and  Lady 
Hamilton  ^  were  married  at  the  Priory.     With  her  he  lived 

'  Harriet  Douglas,  sister  of  the  seventeenth  Earl  of  Morton. 


BENTLEY   PRIORY  6j 

happily  for  eighteen  years.  Though  strikingly  handsome, 
the  new  Lady  Aberdeen  had  not  all  the  beauty  of  her 
predecessor,  nor  was  she  her  intellectual  equal ;  but  her  de- 
votion to  her  husband  was  unbounded,  and  each  year  as  it 
passed  saw  them  united  in  closer  bonds  of  tranquil  affection 
and  mutual  esteem. 

Lord  Abercorn  died  January  i8,  1818.  Lord  Aberdeen 
succeeded  to  a  large  share  of  his  personal  property,  and 
became  guardian  to  the  infant  heir.  From  that  time 
until  1834  the  Priory  was  Lord  Aberdeen's  habitual 
home.  His  summer  visits  to  Scotland  were  still  made,  but 
Stanmore  was  now  for  many  years  the  centre  of  his  life. 
Situated  as  it  is  within  a  few  miles  of  London,  he  was  able 
to  assemble  with  ease  at  the  Priory  a  constant  succession  of 
guests  distinguished  in  literature,  art,  and  public  life.  Above 
all,  it  was  associated  with  the  most  important  incidents  of 
his  domestic  life.  When,  in  1848,  it  was  let  to  the  Queen 
Dowager,  with  a  view  to  its  ultimate  sale.  Lord  Aberdeen 
wrote  : 

Queen  Adelaide's  visit  seems  to  have  been  a  most  successful 
affair,  but  I  am  heartily  glad  that  I  was  not  there.  Everything 
in  this  world  is  so  transitory  that  as  we  advance  in  life  we  must 
of  course  expect  to  see  great  changes.  To  me,  the  Priory  at 
all  times  exhibits  many  such,  but  these  are  all  changes  in  the 
order  of  Providence  and  beyond  control.  The  present  one  I 
cannot  help  regarding  in  a  different  light.  It  is  more  than 
forty  years  since  I  first  was  taught  to  consider  the  Priory  as  a 
home,  and  for  many  years  I  occupied  it  as  its  master.  I  never 
now  go  there  without  going  to  seek  the  dead,  as  well  as  the 
living.  But  I  have  not  the  least  reason  to  complain.  Every 
man  has  a  right  to  do  what  he  likes  with  his  own  ;  and  all  this 
is  matter  of  little  consequence.     It  will  soon  be  of  still  less. 

But  greatly  attached  though  he  had  become  to  the  Priory, 
his  original  dislike  of  Haddo  was  rapidly  giving  way  to  a 
very  different  feeling.  Residence  there  was  no  longer  a 
penance,  and  instead  of  rejoicing  to  escape  from  it,  he 

F  2 


68  LORD   ABERDEEN 

began  to  regret  the  day  when  he  was  obliged  to  leave  it. 
To  the  people  of  the  district  he  speedily  became  attached  ; 
the  species  of  authority  he  enjoyed  among  them  he  fully  ap- 
preciated ;  and  now  that  his  earliest  improvements  were 
beginning  to  show  their  effects  in  the  altered  face  of  the 
country,  he  found  the  place  growing  ever  dearer  and  dearer 
to  him.  This  is  very  evident  from  his  letters  to  Lady  Aber- 
deen, who  did  not  always  accompany  him  to  Haddo.  In 
182 1  he  writes  to  her  : 

I  am  a  good  deal  tired  to-night,  for  from  eleven  o'clock  till 
eight  I  did  not  sit  down  an  instant.  I  staked  out  two  or  three 
considerable  plantations  with  Johnston,  and  I  took  a  couple  of 
hours'  hard  work  in  thinning  the  plantation  at  the  bottom  of  the 
garden,  which  is  so  thick  that  the  trees  are  injuring  each  other. 
I  principally  cut  down  poplars,  many  of  which  were  fifteen  and 
eighteen  inches  in  circumference  at  the  root,  which  is  an 
astonishing  growth.  I  can  tell  you  that,  if  I  live  ten  years 
more,  I  shall  make  this  really  a  fine  place.  You  have  no  idea 
how  well  it  looks  from  the  new  road.  ...  I  rode  to  Formar- 
tine,  and  walked  all  over  the  ground  on  that  side  of  the  river, 
which  is  to  be  planted.  It  was  really  quite  delightful ;  a  bright 
sun  shone  on  the  wood  and  rocks  opposite,  and  the  leaves  just 
beginning  to  change  colour  made  it  extremely  beautiful.  I  sat 
for  an  hour  on  the  rock,  and  on  the  very  spot  where  our  tower 
is  to  be.  I  built  it  half  a  dozen  times,  and  indulged  in  day 
dreams,  which  to  me  have  always  been  a  great  enjoyment. 
While  ruminating  there  a  couple  of  ravens  were  sailing  round, 
and  a  falcon  darted  from  the  rock  opposite.  I  could  hardly  tear 
myself  away.  When  you  are  next  here,  if  you  are  not  strong 
enough  to  go  on  a  pony,  I  must  positively  have  you  carried  to 
the  spot  in  a  lettica. 

And  in  the  following  year  he  writes  of  the  same  spot : 

I  went  to  Formartine  yesterday  alone.  But  you  know  I  do 
not  mind  being  alone,  and  particularly  when  I  can  indulge  in 
delightful  day  dreams.  I  went  to  our  tower,  which  I  speedily 
built  ;  other  alterations  of  different  kinds  I  performed  with  as 
little  difficulty,  and  sitting  under  the  rock  without  a  human 
being  in  sight  I  anticipated  the  effects  of  time  upon  the  scene. 
But,  sweetheart,  will  your  love  bear  its  effects  as  well  1  for  our 
tower  owes  its  existence,  even  in  the  mind,  to  a  feeling  of  love, 
and  without  it  would  be  annihilated  and  vanish.  Without  it  all 
the  joys  of  life  become  flat,  stale,  and  unprofitable. 


DEATH   OF   LORD  ABERDEEN'S   DAUGHTERS      69 

Strong,  however,  as  was  his  affection  for  his  second  wife, 
Lord  Aberdeen  never  for  a  moment  forgot  the  idol  of  his 
youth.  This  devotion  to  his  first  wife  and  all  belonging  to 
her  naturally  caused  Lady  Aberdeen  some  uneasiness,  not 
always  wholly  concealed,  and  that  feeling  was  strengthened 
by  the  intense  solicitude  which,  after  the  death,  preceded  by 
a  long  and  painful  illness,  of  his  second  daughter  Caroline, 
Lord  Aberdeen  manifested  as  to  the  health,  always  very 
precarious,  of  his  two  remaining  daughters. 

These  impressions  Lord  Aberdeen  exerted  himself  by 
every  means  in  his  power  to  combat  and  remove,  nor  did 
Lady  Aberdeen's  love  and  admiration  of  her  husband  per- 
mit such  appeals  to  be  made  in  vain.  When,  in  1824,  Lady 
Jane,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  just  after  her  first  entrance 
into  the  world,  died  suddenly  after  only  a  few  hours'  illness, 
the  shock  entirely  overcame  her,  and  led  her  to  share  her 
husband's  absorbing  anxiety  as  to  the  one  remaining  child  of 
his  first  marriage,  Alice,  who  after  apparent  recovery  from 
several  long  and  dangerous  illnesses,  now  showed  increasing 
symptoms  of  decay,  and  faded  away  slowly  before  their  eyes. 
On  her  account  Lord  Aberdeen  spent  the  three  next  winters 
at  Nice.  To  her  he  devoted  every  moment  of  his  spare 
time,  and  to  be  with  her  he  retired  almost  wholly  from  active 
life.  What  were  politics,  art,  or  literature  to  him,  as  com- 
pared with  the  child,  who  formed  his  last  link  on  earth  to  the 
being  whom  he  had  adored,  and  who  was  herself  endowed 
with  every  bodily  and  mental  charm  ? 

Yet  during  the  period  of  which  this  chapter  treats  public 
life  had  not  been  altogether  neglected  by  him,  and  to  it  we 
must  now  turn. 

Lord  Castlereagh  had  wished  Lord  Aberdeen  to  retain 
his  Embassy,  and  to  return  to  Germany  as  one  of  the 
plenipotentiaries   at  the  Congress  of  Vienna.     This  Lord 


70  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Aberdeen  declined  to  do.  He  offered  to  go  to  Vienna 
for  the  purpose  of  investing  the  Emperor  with  the  Order 
of  the  Garter,  but  not  as  a  negotiator.  He  knew  that 
Castlereagh  himself,  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  were  both 
going,  to  Vienna,  and  that  his  own  part  there  must  necessarily 
be  a  more  subordinate  one  than  he  cared  to  assume,  while 
his  views  on  many  points  differed  too  materially  from  Castle- 
reagh's  to  admit  of  his  easily  taking  part  in  the  Congress. 
Their  friendship  remained  unbroken,  but  it  was  never  again 
quite  so  close  and  cordial  as  it  had  been  before  1814. 

But  Lord  Aberdeen  was  still  frequently  consulted  in  con- 
fidence before  decisions  of  importance  were  taken,  and  the 
despatches  in  which  those  decisions  were  embodied  were  not 
unfrequently  submitted  to  his  criticism.  In  1821,  Castlereagh 
sent  him  the  draft  of  a  despatch  he  was  about  to  forward 
to  St.  Petersburg,  deprecating  hostilities  against  the  Porte  or 
any  encouragement  of  the  Greek  insurrection.  In  returning 
this  draft.  Lord  Aberdeen  addressed  Castlereagh  at  great 
length.  The  part  afterwards  taken  by  him  as  minister  in 
1829  and  in  1853  renders  it  of  interest  to  show  what  his 
views  were  at  the  commencement  of  the  Greek  insurrection, 
and  I  accordingly  insert  an  extract  from  this  letter  : 

I  cannot '  help  expressing  my  belief  that,  notwithstanding 
your  exertions  to  preserve  peace,  you  are  destined  ultimately  to 
fail  in  this  object.  .  .  .  Circumstances  in  my  opinion  render  it 
extremely  doubtful  whether  the  Emperor  may  possess  the  power, 
whatever  may  be  his  disposition,  to  abstain  from  hostile  inter- 
ference. I  refer  to  the  effect  produced  on  the  minds  of  his  own 
people  and  throughout  Europe  by  the  Greek  Insurrection.  On 
this  subject  I  would  bespeak  your  patience  while  I  offer  a 
few  remarks  made  under  impressions  deeply  felt,  and  which 
may  tend  to  modify  in  some  degree  the  line  of  policy  you  have 
adopted.  The  existence  of  the  Greek  Insurrection  would  give  an 
entirely  new  character  to  a  Turkish  war.  It  would  no  longer 
be  a  dispute  between  neighbouring  Governments  for  frontiers  or 
provinces,  but  the  cause  itself  would  be  in  a  measure  sanctified, 
and  the  end  and  aim  of  the  contest  enlarged  in  proportion.  The 
attempt  of  any  Government  in  Europe  to  support  the  Turkish 


LETTER  TO  CASTLEREAGH  7 1 

power  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  riveting  the  chains  of  their 
unhappy  Christian  subjects  would  scarcely  be  tolerated.  I  beg 
entirely  to  disclaim  any  view  of  this  question  influenced  by  the 
associations  of  ancient  history,  or  under  the  effects  of  early 
enthusiasm.  In  truth,  when  we  hear  of  the  descendants  of  the 
ancient  Greeks,  we  hear  of  that  which  has  little  reality.  The 
Christian  population  of  Greece  is  a  bastard  and  mongrel  breed 
derived  from  many  sources — Romans,  Sclavonians,  Gauls, 
Catalans,  Venetians,  and  others  ;  they  have  but  little  connection 
with  the  ancient  Greeks  in  blood.  Still,  they  are  Christians, 
quick-witted,  and  capable  of  any  degree  of  improvement.  You 
have  yourself  admitted  that  the  first  and  natural  impulse  of 
every  mind  must  be  in  favour  of  their  exertions.  If  this  is  the 
case  with  every  man  of  common  humanity  in  Europe  what 
must  we  expect  to  be  the  feelings  of  the  Greeks  themselves  ? 
You  are  good  enough  to  pray  in  the  despatch  that  '  Ti?ne  and 
Providence^  may  bring  relief  to  their  sufferings,  but  can  we 
be  surprised  at  their  desire  to  hasten  this  time,  and  to  assist 
the  action  of  Providence  ?  Can  we  in  their  situation  call  it 
impatience  ?  I  think  not.  This  is  a  struggle  to  which  nothing 
in  the  civilised  world  can  present  the  least  analogy.  It 
may  not  be  easy  to  acquiesce  in  the  abuses  of  the  despotic 
Governments  ot  Europe  ;  but  in  doing  so  I  have  always  felt 
that,  whatever  their  vices,  there  was  little  actual  tyranny  in 
any  of  them  in  the  most  essential  points  which  constitute  the 
happiness  of  their  subjects,  and  even  in  the  worst  there  is 
always  the  hope  and  prospect  of  amendment  without  the 
necessity  for  previous  destruction.  The  gradual  increase  of 
knowledge  and  wealth  among  the  people  must  always  in  these 
times  tend  to  modify  the  most  arbitrary  power.  But  the  slavery 
of  the  Greeks  admits  of  no  alleviation,  and  the  very  principle  of 
the  Turkish  Government  forbids  all  improvement  in  their  con- 
dition. Other  conquerors,  however  ferocious,  have  mixed  with 
the  conquered,  and  have  gradually  become  one  people  ;  but 
these  are  as  perfectly  separate  and  distinct  as  they  were  four 
hundred  years  ago,  when  Mahomed  II.  crossed  the  Bosphorus, 
a  nation  of  masters  and  a  nation  of  slaves.  It  is  true  that  the 
Greeks  have  of  late  years  made  considerable  advances  in  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge  and  of  wealth,  but  it  is  clear  that  every 
step  they  take  in  their  progress  towards  civilisation  must  only 
make  them  feel  their  degraded  situation  more  acutely,  and 
instead  of  diminishing  must  only  increase  their  sufferings.  It 
is  quite  impossible  that  we  should  expect  them  to  enter  into 
general  views  of  preserving  the  tranquillity  of  Europe,  or  to 
•participate  in  our  dread  of  commotions  or  our  love  of  peace,  in 
the  blessings  of  which  they  have  no  share  whatever.  Having 
personally  witnessed  their  condition,  I  can  have  no  hesitation 
in  thinking  them  fully  justified  in  using  every  possible  means 


72  LORD  ABERDEEN 

to  shake  off  the  truly  horrible  yoke  under  which  they  groan. 
Their  actual  situation  is  a  solecism  in  the  political  world,  and 
when  it  is  changed,  as  it  infallibly  must  be,  and  that  in  no  long 
time,  posterity  will  believe  with  difficulty  that  what  we  now 
daily  witness  ever  existed.  Under  these  circumstances,  although 
it  may  perhaps  be  the  duty  of  a  prudent  Government  to  observe 
neutrality  in  the  contest  now  existing  between  the  unhappy 
Greeks  and  their  masters,  this,  it  seems  to  me,  must  be  the  ut- 
most sacrifice  to  make.  What  might  be  the  result  of  the  unaided 
efforts  of  the  Greeks  it  is  difficult  to  say.  The  general  opinion 
appears  to  be  against  the  probability  of  their  success  ;  but  I 
know  not  why,  for  they  have  sufficient  numbers,  and  I  am 
sure  they  have  sufficient  cause,  to  animate  their  exertions.  If, 
after  all,  the  freedom  of  the  Greeks  should  be  accomplished 
through  Russian  means,  and  should  be  made  subservient  to 
the  aggrandisement  of  this  already  colossal  power,  I  admit 
that  the  event,  both  in  its  progress  and  in  its  completion,  could 
not  be  contemplated  without  feelings  of  alarm.  But  is  it 
impossible  to  avert  these  consequences  by  taking  part  in  a 
settlement  which  sooner  or  later  will  surely  be  effected,  and 
which,  if  effected  without  our  aid,  can  at  best,  if  accomplished  by 
the  Greeks  alone,  earn  us  no  goodwill,  and  which,  if  carried  out 
by  Russian  arms,  may  seriously  imperil  our  most  vital  interests  ? 

Castlereagh  took  the  letter  good-naturedly.  He  would, 
he  said,  be  much  more  ready  to  adopt  a  plan  of  Greek 
regeneration  prepared  by  Lord  Aberdeen  than  one  '  framed 
by  the  mongrel  minister '  [Capo  dTstrias],  '  who  would 
probably  be  the  draftsman  of  such  a  scheme  at  St.  Peters- 
burg ; '  but  he  was  sure  Lord  Aberdeen  would  not  be 
surprised  that  he  '  did  not  think  it  prudent  to  occupy  his 
time  in  Downing  Street  by  taking  with  his  own  hands  the 
initiative  in  such  portentous  experiments.'  Lord  Aberdeen 
subscribed  to  the  Greek  cause,  and  attended  a  meeting 
in  its  favour.  But  all  the  pressure  that  the  Government 
could  exercise  was  put  upon  him  to  detach  him  from  the 
movement.      Lord  Bathurst   wrote  with  earnestness  and 

dismay  : 

Consider  that  if  you  lend  the  weight  of  your  name  to  such  a 
proceeding  it  must  seriously  embarrass  Government,  and  tend 
to  raise  a  cry  it  will  be  most  difficult  to  manage.  Consider 
that  the  Greek  cause  is  supported  by  every  Jacobin  in  France 


SCOTCH   ENTAILS  73 

and  England.  Consider  that  you  will  appear  to  sanction  all 
the  atrocities  committed  by  the  Greeks.  Will  you  subscribe  to 
a  cause  you  see  your  namesake  and  kinsman  has  abandoned  as 
too  disgraceful  to  belong  to  ? 

Lord  Aberdeen  had  now  arrived  at  a  point  at  which 
further  public  action  on  behalf  of  the  insurgents  would 
have  led  to  a  breach  with  all  those  with  whom  he  lived 
in  habitual  intimacy.  From  this  he  shrank.  His  con- 
stitutional indisposition  to  self-assertion  led  him  to  avoid 
putting  himself  forward  as  a  leader  in  action,  little  as 
he  cared  for  being  alone  in  opinion  ;  while  his  habitual 
modesty  prevented  his  ever  seeing  the  importance  of  his 
own  position,  or  that  it  might  be  his  duty,  however  little  it 
might  be  his  inclination,  publicly  to  declare  his  views.  To 
him  it  appeared  to  matter  little  whether  one  man  more  or 
less  took  part  in  any  movement  or  abstained  from  it.  It  is, 
therefore,  not  improbable  that  he  would  under  any  circum- 
stances have  abstained  from  further  participation  in  the 
Philhellene  movement;  but  decision  was  unnecessary,  for 
at  this  juncture  he  found  himself  withdrawn  from  London 
and  from  public  life  by  the  long  and  dangerous  illness 
of  his  youngest  daughter.  He  employed  a  part  of  this 
leisure  in  completing  an  essay  on  the  Principles  of  Grecian 
Architecture,  which  he  had  before  commenced  as  a  preface 
to  an  edition  of  Vitruvius,  and  which  he  published  in  a 
separate  form  in  the  course  of  1822. 

In  the  autumn  of  that  year  he  took  part  in  the  recep- 
tion of  the  King  at  Edinburgh.  While  there  he  received  the 
news  of  Castlereagh's  suicide.  Though  for  some  years  their 
intimacy  had  not  been  what  it  once  was,  the  shock  was  great 
to  Lord  Aberdeen's  sensitive  nature. 

In  1825  he  introduced  a  Bill  which  had  far  more  im- 
portant effects  than  were  at  the  time  perceived.  As  is  well 
known,  the  system  of  Scotch  entails  was  remarkable  for  its 


74  LORD   ABERDEEN 

great  strictness  and  complexity.  A  Scotch  entail  could  not 
be  broken  save  by  Act  of  Parliament,  and  almost  every 
Scotch  estate  was  entailed.  Although  the  life  tenant  of  an 
entailed  estate  might,  to  a  certain  extent,  put  burdens  upon 
the  property  in  order  to  effect  improvements  on  it,  he  was 
unable  to  make  the  smallest  provision  for  his  widow  or 
children.  Lord  Aberdeen's  Act  gave  this  power.  It  was 
accepted  by  the  proprietors  of  entailed  estates  as  a  welcome 
relief,  and  few  of  them  perceived  that,  this  step  once  taken, 
others  must  follow  which  would  be  less  palatable  to  them. 

It  is  odd  (wrote  Lord  Aberdeen  to  his  friend  John  Hope, 
Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Advocates)  that  no  one  should  see  that 
if  the  tenant  for  life  may  transmit  the  estate  to  his  successor 
heavily  burdened,  that  successor  may  with  justice  demand  that 
he  should  have  the  option  of  assuming  those  burdens  or  of 
disposing  of  the  estate  to  those  who  may  with  less  difficulty 
bear  them.  I  am  not  sorry  that  it  is  so,  for  the  discovery  would 
render  the  passage  of  my  Bill  less  easy.  I  do  not  think  I  am 
called  on  myself  to  raise  obstacles  in  its  way,  but  if  the  objec- 
tion be  made  I  shall  be  prepared  to  meet  it.  I  do  not  myself 
regard  such  consequences  with  any  alarm.  To  give  the 
possessor  of  an  estate,  who  may  have  no  personal  means  inde- 
pendent of  it,  the  right  to  provide  from  it  for  his  wife  and 
children,  is  an  act  of  bare  justice  to  him  and  to  them.  It 
should  not  be  denied  because  its  grant  may  sooner  or  later 
have  consequences  which,  if  not  effected  violently,  or  with  too 
great  rapidity,  are  perhaps  not  to  be  regretted.  The  feudal 
system  has  perished,  and  what  remains  of  it  is  destined  to 
ultimate  extinction.  We  still  preserve  some  of  its  institutions, 
because  they  are  still  useful.  But  these  too  will  disappear  as 
their  utility  ceases  or  becomes  less  apparent.  This  may  or 
may  not  be  a  matter  for  regret  ;  but,  provided  it  is  not  effected 
by  means  of  revolution  or  of  measures  inflicting  suffering  and 
loss  upon  multitudes  of  harmless  individuals,  can  it  be  regarded 
as  an  evil  ?  Few  will  deny  that  the  changes  in  the  position  of 
the  great  and  of  the  people,  which  have  steadily  advanced  in 
the  last  few  centuries,  have  been  attended  with  advantage.  Is 
it  reasonable  to  suppose  that  they  have  now  terminated,  or 
presumptuous  to  hope  that,  if  only  made  when  obviously  called 
for,  they  will  be  accompanied  by  similar  benefits  ?  But  I  admit 
that  this  reasoning  would  not  recommend  my  Bill  to  the  House 
of  Lords,  and  am  therefore  glad  that  the  necessity  for  urging  it 
has  not  arisen.     Personally,  I  am  much  of  Gibbon's  opinion, 


ACCEPTANCE   OF   OFFICE  75 

that  primogeniture  is  an  '  insolent  prerogative ' ;  but  I  am  sure 
that  its  abolition  would  at  this  moment  produce  mischiefs  not 
to  be  counterbalanced  by  any  corresponding  advantage.  It  may 
not  always  be  so.  But  I  must  stop,  or  you  will  think  Hudson 
Gurney  quite  justified  in  styling  me  '  a  Jacobin'  ! 

During  the  years  between  1822  and  1828,  however,  his 
friendship  with  the  Duke  of  Wellington  became  much  more 
close  and  intimate,  and  while  I  doubt  whether  their  inter- 
course and  concert  in  politics  much  altered  his  opinions, 
it  certainly  restrained  their  expression. 

He  refused  a  seat  in  Canning's  Cabinet,  but  when  a 
year  later  he  was  asked  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington  to  join 
him  in  forming  an  Administration,  he  readily  consented  to 
do  so.  The  Duke  told  him  that,  had  all  the  former 
Cabinet  retired,  he  had  destined  him  for  the  Foreign  Office, 
but  that,  as  Lord  Dudley  had  elected  to  remain,  he  must,  of 
course,  retain  the  office  he  already  held.  He  therefore  wished 
Lord  Aberdeen  to  accept  an  office — that  of  Chancellor 
of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster — which,  having  little  business 
of  its  own,  would  enable  him  to  devote  his  time  to  foreign 
affairs,  and  to  the  assistance  of  Lord  Dudley  in  their 
management.  Such  assistance  Lord  Dudley  was  himself 
aware  that  he  needed ;  his  habits  of  procrastination,  his  ex- 
cessive indecision,  and  his  slow  and  painful  style  of  com- 
position, both  in  writing  and  oratory,  rendering  him  quite 
unable  to  keep  abreast  of  the  business  of  his  office.  Being 
on  terms  of  the  most  cordial  and  intimate  friendship  with 
Lord  Aberdeen,  he  welcomed  his  aid  without  reserve  or 
jealousy,  good-humouredly  styling  him  his  '  coadjutor  jure 
successionis.^  That  succession  was  not  long  in  coming.  In 
May  1828,  Lord  Dudley  resigned,  along  with  Huskisson  and 
Palmerston,  and  Lord  Aberdeen  received  the  seals  as  Foreign 
Secretary. 


76  LORD   ABERDEEN 


CHAPTER   IV 

FOREIGN   OFFICE  :    1828-30 

War  between  Turkey  and  Russia — Choice  of  a  Sovereign  for  Greece — 
Affairs  of  Portugal — Expedition  to  Algiers — French  Revolution  of 
1830. 

The  correspondence  of  the  Foreign  Office  is  now  more 
than  seven  times  as  great  as  in  1828,  but  it  was  even  then 
of  vast  bulk,  and  dealt  with  the  most  various  subjects.  It 
is  beyond  my  power,  within  the  limits  assigned  to  me,  to  do 
more  than  indicate  the  chief  transactions  in  which  during 
Lord  Aberdeen's  tenure  of  the  office  he  took  part,  and  the 
principles  by  which  his  action  was  guided. 

When  he  became  Secretary  of  State  he  found  Russia 
and  the  Porte  at  war.  He  also  found  the  Greek  insur- 
gents in  possession  of  the  Morea,  and  the  return  thither  of 
Turkish  troops  prohibited  by  the  Powers  allied  to  carry 
out  the  Treaty  of  London  of  1827.  The  Greek  claims 
formed  no  part  of  the  ostensible  grievances  which  had 
led  Russia  to  declare  war,  but  the  two  questions  were,  of 
course,  closely  connected,  and  the  line  adopted  by  Lord 
Aberdeen  with  regard  to  them  has  been  at  different  times 
held  up  to  popular  disapproval  from  two  opposite  points  of 
view,  and  for  reasons  not  only  inconsistent  but  contra- 
dictory.. In  1828-30  popular  sympathy  was  with  the  Greeks, 
and  with  Russia  as  the  enemy  of  the  Porte  and  the  friend 
of  Greece.     Lord  Aberdeen  was  accordingly  taunted  with 


TURKEY  AND   RUSSIA  'J'J 

entertaining  Turkish  sympathies,  with  want  of  generosity 
towards  Russia,  and  with  a  desire  to  cripple  the  resources 
and  Hmit  the  extent  of  the  new  Greek  State.  Lord  John 
Russell  expressed  delight  at  each  fresh  Russian  success, 
and  Lord  Palmerston  asked  why  the  Turks  should  be 
maintained  at  Constantinople.  Twenty-five  years  later,  on 
the  eve  of  the  Crimean  War,  popular  opinion  had  veered 
round  to  a  totally  opposite  point.  Those  who  had  hailed 
the  defeats  of  the  Porte  with  joy,  were  now  its  warmest 
friends :  while  Lord  Aberdeen  was  denounced  for  not  having 
actively  supported  Turkey  against  Russia  in  1828,  and  was 
stigmatised  by  the  public  voice  as  having  at  that  time 
betrayed  her  interests  for  the  benefit  of  her  revolted  sub- 
jects. Responsible  politicians  were  not  ashamed  to  style 
him  the  author  of  the  Treaty  of  Adrianople,  and  Kinglake 
has  blamed  him  for  not  having  accepted  the  invitation 
which  he  erroneously  believed  to  have  been  given  by 
Austria  to  oppose  by  force  the  progress  of  the  Russian 
arms.  Another  thirty  years  has  brought  another  change 
in  popular  sentiment,  which  is  now  once  more,  generally, 
on  the  anti-Turkish  side  ;  and  in  Mr.  Walpole's  '  History  of 
England  since  181 5  '  we  find  sharp  reprehension  of  the 
policy  of  the  Wellington  Government,  as  having  been 
unfriendly  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  progress,  and  unduly 
solicitous  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Ottoman  power. 

Of  these  contradictory  charges  that  which  attributes  to 
Lord  Aberdeen  any  sympathy  with  Russia  may  be  dis- 
missed as  purely  imaginary.  The  other  has  such  founda- 
tion as  may  be  discovered  in  distrust  of  the  professions 
of  the  Russian  Government,  and  apprehension  of  the 
consequences  of  Russian  conquest.  That  distrust  and 
apprehension  were  clearly  shown  in  a  note  addressed  to 
Prince    Lieven    by    Lord   Aberdeen   immediately   on   his 


78  LORD  ABERDEEN 

accession  to  office,  and  in  the  instructions  given  by  him 
to  Lord  Heytesbury,  whom  he  at  once  despatched  as 
Ambassador  to  Russia.  Lord  Heytesbury  was  speedily 
convinced  by  the  Czar  that  he  had  no  thought  of  aggran- 
disement ;  and  assurances  to  this  effect  were  conveyed  to 
Lord  Aberdeen  in  despatches,  which  were  perused  by  him 
*  with  interest,  but  not  without  concern,'  and  which  gave 
no  warning  of  an  event  which  brought  Russia  and  England 
to  the  very  verge  of  war. 

The  Emperor  Nicholas,  who  had  previously  promised 
to  abstain  from  any  exercise  of  his  rights  as  a  belligerent 
in  the  Mediterranean,  suddenly,  and  without  any  previous 
communication  with  his  allies,  directed  the  blockade  of 
the  Dardanelles.  On  the  receipt  of  this  intelligence.  Lord 
Aberdeen,  without  even  waiting  to  consult  the  Cabinet, 
informed  Lord  Heytesbury  that  the  step  taken  would  not 
be  tolerated. 

We  have  made  the  King  declare  to  Parliament  (he  wrote) 
that  which  the  Emperor  is  now  determined  to  falsify.  Even  if 
we  could  be  base  enough  to  disgrace  ourselves  by  submission, 
I  am  quite  persuaded  that  the  country  would  never  endure  it. 

The  abstract  right  of  Russia  to  institute  the  blockade 
was  admitted,  but  surprise  and  displeasure  were  expressed 
at  its  exercise,  after  the  declaration  of  the  Emperor  in  a 
contrary  sense ;  and  Lord  Heytesbury  was  instructed  to 
demand  the  exemption  from  the  operation  of  the  blockade 
of  all  British  vessels,  howeve?  loaded^  which  might  have 
sailed  on  the  strength  of  the  King's  declaration.  The 
despatch  thus  concludes  : 

If  the  Russian  Government  should  persevere  in  refusing  to 
listen  to  the  propositions  of  Your  Excellency,  you  may  add  that 
the  officer  commanding  the  additional  force,  which  has  been 
sent  to  the  Mediterranean,  will  be  ordered  to  give  that  effectual 
protection  to  British  vessels,  which  Your  Excellency  has  failed 
to  obtain  from  the  justice  of  His  Imperial  Majesty. 


UNIVERSITY  y 

OF 


CAMPAIGN   OF    1 828  79 


The  Russian  Government  yielded,  and  the  obnoxious 
orders  were  withdrawn  ;  but  all  naval  co-operation  with 
Russia  in  carrying  out  the  Treaty  of  London  ceased. 

War  against  Turkey  had  been  commenced  by  the  Czar 
without  remonstrance  from  any  Power  in  Europe,  and 
indeed  with  an  acknowledgment  from  most  of  them  that 
he  had  right  on  his  side.  In  the  earlier  stages  of  that 
contest  the  Russian  arms  were  by  no  means  successful ; 
but  Lord  Aberdeen  felt,  and  avowed,  that  their  ultimate 
triumph  was  secure,  and  that  it  might  so  affect  the  interests 
of  England  as  to  demand,  at  any  risk,  the  assumption  of 
a  very  different  tone  from  that  which  had  been  hitherto 
employed  ;  for  in  1828,  as  in  1853,  Lord  Aberdeen  regarded 
the  possession  of  Constantinople  by  Russia  as  a  danger 
to  Europe. 

The  aid  of  Austria  was  required  effectually  to  avert  this 
danger,  and  to  obtain  it  Lord  Aberdeen,  on  December  26, 
1828,  addressed  a  long  and  very  able  despatch  to  Lord 
Cowley,  the  English  Ambassador  at  Vienna.  The  operations 
of  the  Russian  armies  had,  he  admitted, 

undoubtedly  been  attended  with  heavy  losses  of  every  descrip- 
tion— in  men,  in  horses,  in  stores  and  baggage,  and,  above  all, 
in  the  temporary  destruction  at  least  of  that  character  of 
invincibility  which  had  perhaps  been  too  readily  granted  to  the 
arms  of  His  Imperial  Majesty.  But  let  us  not  deceive  our- 
selves. These  losses  are  not  overwhelming,  neither  are  they 
irreparable. 

The  causes  which  led  to  the  comparative  failure  of  the 
campaign  were  then  shown  to  be  such  as  were  not  likely  to 
recur,  and  Prince  Metternich  was  urged  to  consider 

the  inevitable  consequences  of  a  successful  invasion  of  the 
Turkish  Empire.  Let  His  Highness  contrast  the  situation 
and  character  of  the  Ottoman  dominions  with  those  of  any 
other  European  states.  In  ordinary  cases,  even  after  the  most 
sanguinary  wars  and  the  most  extensive  conquests,  peace  heals 
all   wounds.     Governments   may  be  changed,   and  dynasties 


80  LORD   ABERDEEN 

overthrown  or  destroyed,  without  the  general  frame  of  society 
and  the  due  exercise  of  lawful  authority  being  materially 
afifected.  But  if  the  Turkish  power  be  once  destroyed,  its 
reconstruction  is  impossible. 

So  long  as  it  was  the  first  duty  of  England  to  require 
from  the  Porte  its  assent  to  the  provisions  of  the  Treaty 
of  London,  it  was  impossible  to  take  her  part  as  against 
Russia.  Prince  Metternich  was  therefore  entreated  to  use 
his  influence  at  the  Porte  to  induce  it  to  assent  to  a  settle- 
ment of  the  Greek  question.  Were  that  once  disposed  of, 
the  Emperor  Nicholas  would  probably  be  ready  to  make 
peace  on  easy  terms  ;  but  if  not,  it  would  then  be  com- 
paratively easy  to  compel  him  to  do  so. 

Prince  Metternich,  in  reply  to  this  overture,  denied  the 

accuracy  of  the  assumptions  on  which  it  was  based.    He 

professed  to  believe  that  the  campaign  of  1829  would  not 

be  more  successful  than  that  of  1828,  and  that  the  Turks 

were  able  to  hold  their  own  without  support  or  assistance. 

In  the  course   of  the   following    spring   another    attempt 

was  made  to  induce  him  to  prevail  on  the  Turks  to  assent 

to  the  establishment  of  a  Greek  State,  and  thus  clear  the 

way  for  effective  interposition  on  their  behalf ;  but  he  replied 

that 

Austria  was  in  a  very  embarrassing  position,  and  that  he 
believed  the  safest  course  for  her  to  pursue  would  be  to  abstain 
altogether  from  interfering  upon  the  present  occasion. 

It  is  therefore  an  error,  though  one  very  generally 
entertained,  to  suppose  that  Prince  Metternich  desired 
to  undertake  an  armed  intervention  on  behalf  of  Turkey. 
The  attitude  he  really  occupied  is  thus  pithily  and  accu- 
rately described  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  a  letter  to 
Lord  Aberdeen  : 

Metternich  is  garrulous — he  is  not  very  fond  of  the  Russians, 
but  very  much  so  of  talking  and  writing  upon  the  extent  and 
consequence  of  their  losses,  which,  as  usual  in  persons  of  that 


CAMPAIGN   OF    1 829  8 1 

disposition,  he  exaggerates  ;  and  boasts,  probably  with  some 
truth,  that  if  the  consequences  could  be  prevented,  it  is  in  the 
power  of  his  master  totally  to  destroy  their  combination  for  the 
next  campaign.  But  he  no  more  thinks  of  interfering  by  arms 
than  he  does  of  attacking  France  ;  and  he  would  act  more 
wisely  if  he  kept  himself  quiet  altogether  and  was  silent.  I'll 
engage  for  it  that  the  Emperor  of  Russia  is  more  afraid  of  us, 
who  are  as  quiet  as  mice,  than  he  is  of  the  Austrians,  though 
the  Austrians  have  more  in  their  power  immediately. 

The  campaign  proceeded,  and  Lord  Aberdeen's  predic- 
tions were  fully  verified. 

The  advance  of  the  Russian  forces  was  unchecked,  and 
although  an  absence  of  all  designs  of  aggrandisement  con- 
tinued to  be  proclaimed,  no  explanation  was  offered  of  the 
intentions  of  the  Emperor,  and  it  began  to  be  rumoured 
that  heavy  pecuniary  indemnities  and  some  territorial 
cessions  would  be  included  in  the  terms  of  peace.  Lord 
Aberdeen's  communications,  both  with  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment and  with  Prince  Lieven,  became  more  and  more 
animated  ;  and  a  change  having  taken  place  in  the  com- 
position of  the  French  Cabinet,  he  thought  it  worth  while 
to  invite  its  co-operation  : 

even  although  it  should  be  certain  that  every  word  of  the 
despatch  would  be  immediately  communicated  to  Russia. 

But  the  French  Government  declined  to  assist  in  any 
measures  to  prevent  the  apparently  approaching  catastrophe ; 
and  Prince  Polignac  saw,  or  professed  to  see,  no  reason  to 
distrust  the  assurances  of  moderation  already  given  by  the 
Emperor  of  Russia. 

It  was  therefore  evident  that  England  would  be  left 
to  succour  the  Turks  single-handed,  if  succour  was  to  be 
afforded ;  but,  although  unsupported  by  those  to  whom 
the-  preservation  of  the  Ottoman  power  was  apparently 
a  matter  of  more  immediate  interest,  the  occupation  of 
Constantinople   by   the   Russians,   however  temporary  its 


82  LORD   ABERDEEN 

nature,  would  have  led  to  open  collision.  Peace  was,  how- 
ever, concluded  at  Adrianople.  It  is  now  said  that,  had 
the  weakness  of  the  Russian  army  been  properly  estimated, 
the  war  would  have  been  continued.  The  Russian  army 
may  have  been  greatly  enfeebled  by  disease,  but,  what- 
ever its  condition,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  a  panic 
had  seized  the  Turks,  which  rendered  resistance  difficult, 
if  not  impossible.  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  the  accuracy 
of  the  picture  drawn  by  the  British  Ambassador,  Sir  R. 
Gordon,  a  warm  friend  of  the  Turks,  and  strongly  animated 
by  anti-Russian  and  anti-Greek  prejudices. 

Nothing  (he  wrote)  but  an  immediate  cessation  of  hostilities 
can  possibly  save  this  Empire  from  total  destruction.  The  in- 
ternal disorder  is  even  more  alarming  than  the  danger  with 
which  it  is  threatened  from  without :  disaffection  and  insub- 
ordination have  reached  the  highest  pitch.  There  no  longer 
exists  an  embodied  Turkish  army ;  and  the  few  scattered 
troops  which  the  Russians  have  fallen  in  with  decline  to  offer 
any  resistance.  ...  It  is  certain,  so  broken-hearted  are  the 
Turks,  that  if  the  Russians  appeared  with  10,000  men  upon 
the  heights  above  the  capital,  they  might  enter  the  next  day, 
as  at  Adrianople,  by  capitulation  ;  in  ten  days  more  they  might 
be  masters  on  both  sides  the  Hellespont  from  Tenedos  to  the 
Black  Sea. 

However  this  might  be,  the  Treaty  of  Adrianople  was 
signed  on  September  14th.  When  the  conditions  of  the 
peace  were  known,  the  Emperor  of  Austria  and  the  King  of 
France  wrote  to  congratulate  the  Emperor  Nicholas  on  the 
success  which  had  attended  his  arms,  and  the  moderation 
he  had  displayed.  The  King  of  England  did  not  write  a 
similar  letter ;  on  the  contrary.  Lord  Aberdeen  addressed 
a  despatch  to  Lord  Heytesbury,  containing  very  severe 
criticism  upon  the  terms  of  the  treaty. 

Prince  Metternich  did  not  approve  the  treaty,  but  con- 
tinued to  urge  the  absolute  necessity  of  close  union  between 
Russia  and  Austria,  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  revolutionary 


REPLY  TO  METTERNICH  83 

tendencies  of  France.  While  doing  so  he  let  drop  the  remark 
that  the  adoption  of  a  more  decided  tone  by  Great  Britain 
might  have  prevented  many  of  the  calamities  which  had 
fallen  on  the  Turkish  Empire,  a  remark  since  applied  to 
the  transactions  of  a  later  period. 

Lord  Aberdeen  replied  to  this  observation  by  in- 
quiring : 

At  what  moment  would  Prince  Metternich  have  recom- 
mended the  adoption  of  a  more  decided  tone  ? 

When  the  Emperor  Nicholas  declared  war  against  the 
Porte,  he  exercised  the  right  belonging  to  every  independent 
sovereign,  of  obtaining  redress  for  injuries  alleged  to  have 
been  committed  against  his  own  honour  and  the  interest  of 
his  subjects.  All  the  Great  Powers  of  the  Continent,  not 
excepting  Austria,  recognised  the  justice  of  these  hostilities. 
It  was  otherwise  with  His  Majesty's  Government. 

The  objections  felt  and  urged  by  Great  Britain  to  the 
commencement  of  the  war,  her  insistence  on  the  aban- 
donment of  pretensions  injurious  to  the  dignity  of  the 
allies,  and  her  refusal  to  acknowledge  the  blockade  of  the 
Dardanelles,  were  recapitulated,  and  the  despatch  thus 
continued  : 

At  what  subsequent  period,  we  may  ask,  would  it  have  been 
proper  or  justifiable  to  have  assumed  this  decided  tone  towards 
Russia?  Prince  Metternich  cannot  surely  mean  that  we  might 
acquiesce  in  the  declaration  of  war  by  the  Emperor  Nicholas, 
and  yet  feel  ourselves  at  liberty  to  quarrel  with  him  for  carrying 
it  on  with  vigour  and  success  ;  in  a  word,  that  we  should 
expect  Russia  to  make  war  with  reference  principally  to  our 
convenience,  rather  than  in  conformity  with  her  own  policy, 
and  to  the  promotion  of  her  own  interests. 

Had  the  Turkish  Government  manifested  any  desire  for 
the  restoration  of  peace  ;  had  reasonable  propositions  been 
rejected  by  the  Cabinet  of  St.  Petersburg  ;  there  might,  indeed, 
have  been  some  ground  for  the  intervention  of  a  neutral 
power.  But  it  is  well  known  that  the  reverse  of  this  is  the 
fact ;  it  is  notorious  that  the  pacific  overtures  of  the  Emperor 
were  more  than  once  rejected  by  the  blind  obstinacy  of  the 
Porte. 

It  is  no  doubt  gratifying  that  the  Austrian  Cabinet  should 
look  to  the  tone  of  Great  Britain  ac  the  means  of  averting 

G  2 


84  LORD  ABERDEEN 

evils  which  in  their  consequences  may  too  probably  endanger 
the  peace  of  the  world.  Having  no  separate  objects  to  attain, 
and  having  nothing  to  fear,  it  has  been  peculiarly  our  office  to 
watch  over  the  peaceful  relations  of  States,  and  by  upholding 
the  established  balance  to  promote  the  security  and  prosperity 
of  each.  From  this  office  we  shall  not  shrink  ;  but  however 
prompt  to  act,  when  called  upon  exclusively  by  a  regard  for 
the  honour  and  dignity  of  Great  Britain,  Prince  Metternich 
will  probably  admit  that  when  the  interest  is  European  it  is 
reasonable  that  we  should  look  for  European  concert  and 
support. 

The  motive  which  led  Lord  Aberdeen  to  deprecate  any 
diminution  of  the  strength  of  Turkey  was  not  love  of  the 
Turks,  but  apprehension  of  the  designs  of  Russia.     The 
same  motive  induced  him  to  look  less  favourably  on  the 
Greek  cause  than  he  would  otherwise  have  done ;  and,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  he  in  fact  had  done  only  a  few  years 
previously.     The  Greek  insurrection  was  mainly  directed 
by  Russia,  and  had  at  its  head  a  Russian  minister  who  had 
filled  high  office  at  St.  Petersburg.  To  enlarge  and  strengthen 
Greece  was  apparently  to  give  to  Russia  the  control  of  the 
Southern  Provinces  of  European  Turkey.     This  was  the 
cause  of  a  desire  to  prevent  the  Sovereign  of  Greece  from 
assuming  a  formally  independent   position,  which  would 
allow  him  to  be  practically  the  tool  of  Russia.    By  preserving 
the  nominal  suzerainty  of  the  Sultan,  the  new  State  would, 
in  foreign  affairs  at  all  events,  be  rendered  unable  to  act  in 
hostility  to  the  Porte.   There  was  another  reason  for  desiring 
to  restrict   within  moderate  dimensions   the  demands  of 
Greece,  and  that  was  the  importance  attached  to  placing 
the  Porte  in  a  position  in  which  Great  Britain  would  be  free 
to  give  her  a  more  unequivocal  support.     This  was  im- 
possible so  long  as  the  Greek  question  was  unsettled  and 
the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  London  unfulfilled ;  but  it  was 
manifest  that  the  more  moderate  the  terms  asked  of  the 
Turks   the  more   chance   there  was  that   they  would  be 


TREATY  OF   ADRIANOPLE  85 

induced  to  grant  them,  and  to  reconsider  the  obstinate 
refusal  they  had  hitherto  given  to  all  proposals  on  the 
subject.  In  reply  to  Lord  Holland,  Lord  Aberdeen  avowed, 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  that  he  indeed  regretted  the  weak- 
ness of  Turkey,  but  '  not  from  any  love  of  the  Turks  or  of 
the  Turkish  Government.  God  forbid.  I  have  seen  and 
know  the  effect  of  the  barbarous  rule  existing  there,  and 
nobody  can  be  more  alive  to  the  horrors  with  which  it 
abounds.  But  give  me  leave  to  say  that  the  improvement 
of  even  Turkey  may  be  purchased  at  too  dear  a  rate,  and 
I  still  think  that  the  conquest  of  that  country  by  Russia 
would  be  paying  dear  indeed  for  the  amelioration  of  its 
condition.' 

But  the  conclusion  of  the  Treaty  of  Adrianople  led 
Lord  Aberdeen  at  once  to  abandon  the  hope  he  had  enter- 
tained of  finding  in  Turkey  any  effectual  resistance  to  the 
progress  of  Russia.  He  now  sought  it  in  another  direction, 
and  from  those  with  whom  he  had  more  natural  sympathy. 

In  writing  officially  to  his  brother.  Sir  Robert  Gordon, 
he  says  : 

The  events  of  the  war  have  clearly  shown  to  the  most 
incredulous,  not  only  that  the  Porte  was  utterly  unable  to  con- 
tend with  any  prospect  of  success  against  the  arms  of  Russia, 
but  that,  trusting  to  its  own  resources  and  without  foreign  aid, 
the  existence  of  the  Turkish  Empire  may  be  said  at  this 
moment  to  depend  upon  the  absolute  will  and  pleasure  of  the 
Emperor  Nicholas. 

We  may  justly  deprecate  that  restless  policy  which,  dissatis- 
fied with  whatever  is  established,  eagerly  anticipates  change, 
and  hoping  for  contingent  good,  does  in  truth  only  disturb  the 
tranquillity  of  States.  But  the  present  moment  offers  a  crisis 
in  which  common  prudence  demands  that  we  should  endeavour 
to  prepare  for  the  approach  of  those  great  events  which,  accord- 
ing to  all  appearance,  cannot  long  be  delayed.  .  .  .  We  may 
perhaps  be  tempted  to  suspect  that  the  hour  long  since  pre- 
dicted is  about  to  arrive,  and  that,  independently  of  all  foreign 
or  hostile  impulse,  this  clumsy  fabric  of  barbarous  power  will 
speedily  crumble  to  pieces  from  its  own  inherent  causes  of 
decay.  .  .  .  We  may  still  attempt  to  avert  the  period  of  its 


86  LORD  ABERDEEN 

final  dissolution,  and  may  possibly  for  a  time  succeed  ;  but  when- 
ever this  feeble  and  precarious  dominion  shall  cease,  we  ought 
not  to  occupy  ourselves  in  vain  efforts  to  restore  its  existence. 
Our  object  ought  rather  to  be  to  find  the  means  of  supplying 
its  place  in  a  manner  the  most  beneficial  to  the  interests  of 
civilisation  and  of  peace. 

.  .  .  Whatever  may  have  been  its  defective  composition,  a 
government  which  had  maintained  relations  of  peace  with 
European  courts  for  centuries  was  not  to  be  wantonly  destroyed 
in  the  mere  hope  of  future  improvement  and  at  the  risk  of  a 
general  convulsion.  But  whenever  this  State,  now  hastening 
to  its  fall,  shall  be  entirely  overthrown,  its  reconstruction  will 
be  beyond  our  power,  even  should  we  possess  the  inclination 
to  attempt  it.  We  cannot  be  blind  to  the  detestable  character 
of  Turkish  tyranny.  Every  day  renders  more  certain  the  im- 
possibility of  any  European  sympathy  with  a  system  founded 
upon  ignorance  and  ferocity.  And  although,  if  necessary,  we 
might  reasonably  expect  support  in  resisting  Christian  aggran- 
disement and  ambition,  we  could  scarcely  look  to  receive  it  in 
an  attempt  to  restore  a  Mohammedan  authority  in  Europe. 

A  guarantee  of  the  integrity  of  the  Ottoman  dominions,  if 
the  inclination  and  policy  of  the  powers  of  Christendom  per- 
mitted them  to  enter  into  such  an  engagement,  might  preserve 
this  Empire  from  hostile  attack,  but  it  could  offer  no  real 
security  against  the  causes  of  internal  dissolution.  Should 
such  a  general  guarantee  be  entered  into,  it  is  probable  that  its 
greatest  utility  would  be  found  in  establishing  the  existence  of 
a  species  of  European  concert  at  the  time  of  emergency.  .  .  . 

The  principle  of  the  arrangement  which  we  ought  now  to 
desire  to  see  accomplished  is  that  which  should  most  effectually 
secure  the  tranquillity  of  the  Levant  during  the  remaining 
existence  of  the  Turkish  Government,  and  which,  at  the  period 
of  its  dissolution,  should  offer  in  the  Greek  State  a  substitute 
whose  interests  we  should  naturally  be  called  on  to  support  in 
preference  to  the  pretensions  of  all  others. 

Lord  Aberdeen  therefore  proposed  that  Greece  should 
be  an  independent  State,  free  from  even  the  nominal 
suzerainty  of  the  Porte,  and  that  its  frontiers  should  receive 
a  considerable  extension  beyond  what  was  contemplated  by 
the  protocols  of  March  22,  1829. 

In  writing  privately  to  Sir  R.  Gordon  on  the  same  day, 

Lord  Aberdeen  thus  explained  his  views  : 

You  know  that  to  preserve  the  Porte  substantially  entire  was 
my  great  wish.    But  the  instant  that  the  Russians  had  arrived 


SOVEREIGNTY  OF  GREECE  8/ 

at  Adrian ople  and  we  saw  of  what  the  Turkish  Empire  was 
composed,  I  changed  my  views,  and  determined  to  lay  the 
foundation,  if  possible,  of  making  something  out  of  Greece.  .  .  . 
I  now  look  to  establish  a  solid  power  in  Greece  with  which  we 
may  form  a  natural  connection,  and  which,  if  necessary,  we 
may  cordially  support  in  future. 

But  Lord  Aberdeen  found  little  support  among  his 
colleagues,  except  from  Sir  Robert  Peel,  and  to  some  ex- 
tent from  Mr.  Goulburn.  The  Duke  himself  clung  to  his 
Turkish  sympathies,  and  Lord  Bathurst,  Lord  Ellenborough, 
and  others  were  still  more  firmly  wedded  to  their  original 
predilections.  After  much  discussion,  the  independent 
sovereignty  was  conceded  to  Lord  Aberdeen  ;  but  he  could 
not  gain  the  assent  of  the  Cabinet  to  any  extension  of  the 
limits  of  Greece  beyond  those  already  determined.  With 
his  accustomed  loyalty  to  his  chief  and  to  his  colleagues,  he 
strove,  in  all  his  correspondence,  to  make  the  best  of  an 
arrangement  he  did  not  really  like.  To  his  brother  alone 
he  permitted  himself  to  express  the  whole  extent  of  his 
views  with  regard  to  the  future  which  lay  before  the  new 
State.  In  his  judgment,  however,  the  exact  limits  of  the 
Greek  kingdom  had  now  become  of  far  less  importance 
than  the  choice  of  an  efficient  sovereign  for  it.  He  thought 
it  essential  that  he  should  be  a  man  of  real  capacity,  willing 
to  work  and  competent  to  rule  ;  one  on  whom  would 
naturally  devolve — or  who,  in  case  of  need,  might  seize — 
the  inheritance  of  the  Sultan. 

Among  the  numerous  princes  who  were  either  candi- 
dates for  the  new  sovereignty,  or  had  been  urged  to  become 
so,  there  were  two  —  Prince  Frederick  of  Orange  and 
Prince  Philip  of  Hesse — who  appeared  to  Lord  Aberdeen 
to  combine  the  qualities  required  for  the  post.  Both 
were  men  of  ability,  decision,  and  strength  of  character. 
But  of  these.  Prince  Frederick  declined  to  allow  himself  to 


8^'  LORD  ABERDEEN 

be  nominated,  and  the  French  Court  refused  to  permit  the 
appointment  of  a  prince  who  was  also  a  general  in  the 
Austrian  army,  which  was  the  position  of  Prince  Philip. 
It  was  therefore  necessary  to  make  a  selection  among  other 
competitors.  Prince  John  of  Saxony  was  the  candidate 
preferred  by  France,  while  the  claims  of  Prince  Charles 
of  Mecklenburg  were  urged  by  Prussia.  The  Archdukes 
Maximilian  and  Bernard  of  Tuscany,  who  were  not  indis- 
posed to  undertake  the  task,  were  amiable  and  cultivated 
men,  but  fitter,  in  Lord  Aberdeen's  opinion,  to  criticise 
Greek  architecture  and  collect  Greek  coins  than  to  rule 
a  turbulent  and  hungry  crowd  of  modern  Greeks.  Prince 
Emilius  of  Hesse,  though  not  without  some  of  the  recom- 
mendations of  his  cousin  Philip,  had  too  much  of  the  stiif- 
ness  of  a  military  pedant  to  be  suitable  for  the  situation. 
Two  other  princes  had  proposed  themselves  as  candidates, 
and  eagerly  pressed  their  respective  claims  :  Prince  Paul  of 
Wiirtemberg  and  Prince  Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg.  Prince 
Paul  was  a  man  of  many  gifts  and  restless  ambition,  but  his 
unquestionable  cleverness  was  tinged  with  eccentricity,  and 
his  aptness  for  intrigue  inspired  distrust.  Prince  Leopold 
of  Saxe-Coburg  was  therefore  accepted,  to  his  own  great 
satisfaction,  by  the  conference,  rather  as  one  to  whom  no 
Power  could  offer  any  definite  objection  than  as  in  himself 
the  best  choice  that  could  be  made. 

The  shrewdness  and  diplomatic  talents  of  the  future 
King  of  the  Belgians,  Prince  Leopold,  were  not  then  appre- 
ciated. It  is  probable  that  a  belief  in  his  indolence  and 
indecision,  which  it  was  thought  would  ensure  his  being 
easily  guided  by  the  Russian  minister  who  then  presided 
over  the  Greek  State,  led  to  his  being  proposed  by  Russia. 
Capo  dTstrias  had  no  wish  to  part  with  his  own  authority  ; 
and  when  he  became  aware,  as  he  soon  did,  that  the  Prince 


ABDICATION   OF   LEOPOLD  89 

was  a  man  of  no  ordinary  capacity,  he  became  as  unwilling  to 
submit  to  him  as  he  had  in  the  first  instance  been  forward  to 
name  him.  By  playing  on  the  indolence  and  self-indulgence 
of  Prince  Leopold's  character,  he  knew  how  to  frighten 
him  into  abdicating  the  dignity  he  had  accepted.  It  was  a 
misfortune.  Had  he,  or  either  Prince  Frederick  of  Orange 
or  Prince  Philip,  assumed  the  reins  of  government,  Greece 
would  probably  have  played  the  part  which  Lord  Aberdeen 
intended  her  to  play,  and  which  was  much  the  same  as  that 
which  Bulgaria  has  played  in  our  own  times.  No  successor 
to  Prince  Leopold  had  been  selected  before  Lord  Aberdeen 
left  the  Foreign  Office.  By  Lord  Palmerston  it  was  deter- 
mined that  the  sovereign  of  Greece  should  not  be  its  ruler, 
but  a  constitutional  king  of  the  approved  type,  a  figure-head, 
not  a  governor  ;  and  that,  even  during  the  time  which  must 
elapse  before  a  constitution  could  be  framed,  he  should  rule 
through  a  council.  Accordingly,  the  young  Otho  of  Bavaria 
was  chosen,  and  a  council  of  regency,  mainly  composed  of 
Germans,  set  up  to  rule  in  his  name.  It  was  an  unfortunate 
choice.  What  Greece  wanted  was  the  direction  of  a  single 
vigorous  mind,  the  grasp  of  one  firm  hand.  What  it  got  was 
a  divided  council  of  timid  and  selfish  pedants,  acting  in  the 
name  of  a  dull  incompetent  boy. 

The  space  at  my  disposal  warns  me  that  I  must  not 
attempt  to  discuss  at  equal  length  the  line  taken  by  Lord 
Aberdeen  with  reference  to  the  affairs  of  Portugal. 

It  had  been  arranged  that  a  separation  of  the  crowns  of 
Portugal  and  Brazil  should  take  place  on  the  death  of  King 
John  VI.,  and  that  his  eldest  son,  Dom  Pedro,  should  elect 
which  of  the  two  he  would  retain.  He  chose  the  Empire 
of  Brazil,  and  resigned  the  crown  of  Portugal  to  his  infant 
daughter.  He  at  the  same  time  granted  a  constitution  to 
Portugal  of  a  liberal  character,  but  which  wholly  set  aside 


90  LORD   ABERDEEN 

the  existing  and  ancient  Cortes.  His  sister,  the  Infanta 
Isabella,  was  in  1828  compelled  by  ill-health  to  resign  the 
regency  which  had  been  conferred  upon  her,  and  by  the 
Emperor's  appointment  the  regency  devolved  upon  his 
younger  brother  Dom  Miguel.  The  position  of  Dom 
Miguel  was  peculiar.  In  the  opinion  of  many  Portu- 
guese, and  probably  in  his  own,  the  crown  had  devolved 
on  Dom  Miguel  on  his  father's  death,  Dom  Pedro's  as- 
sumption of  a  separate  crown  as  Emperor  of  Brazil  having 
invalidated  his  power  to  transmit  the  right  of  succession  to 
that  of  Portugal.  It  was  also  contended  that  constitutional 
changes  could  not  legally  be  effected  without  the  consent 
of  the  Cortes,  and  that  an  Emperor  of  Brazil  who  had  re- 
nounced the  succession  to  the  throne  of  Portugal  in  1826 
could  not  possibly  nominate  a  regent  of  that  country  in 
1828.  Whether,  therefore,  in  accepting  the  regency,  and 
swearing  as  he  did  to  maintain  his  niece's  rights  and  uphold 
the  constitution,  Dom  Miguel  acted  honestly,  may  well  be 
doubted  ;  although  it  may  be  said  in  his  favour  that,  if  he 
was  from  the  first  insincere,  he  deceived  so  experienced  and 
acute  an  observer  as  Prince  Metternich,  and  that,  even  if 
he  had  gone  to  Portugal  with  the  most  sincere  intention  of 
being  faithful  to  the  young  Queen  and  the  Constitution,  it 
is  probable  that  any^prince,  unless  he  had  been  a  man  of  far 
greater  strength  of  mind  than  Dom  Miguel  possessed,  would 
have  found  it  difficult  to  resist  the  all  but  universal  desire 
of  the  nation  to  seat  him  on  the  throne  and  restore  the 
ancient  constitution  of  Portugal.  As  to  the  unanimity  of 
that  wish  no  doubt  can  exist.  It  may  be  freely  admitted 
that  it  was  the  offspring  of  folly  and  ignorance,  but  its 
reality  cannot  be  questioned.  The  Constitutional  Charter, 
and  the  new  order  of  things,  had  no  stronger  partisan  than 
the  British  Ambassador,  Sir  F.  Lamb;  yet  his  testimony, 


AFFAIRS  OF   PORTUGAL  9 1 

which  is  above  suspicion,  is  to  the  effect  that  Dom  Miguel 

was  '  incessantly  assailed  with  recommendations  to  declare 

himself    king,    and    reign    without    the    Chambers.'      *It 

depends,'  he  wrote,  '  entirely  on  his  will  to  do  so ;   the 

Chambers  would  offer   no  opposition,  and   the   measure 

would  be  popular  with  the  great  majority  of  the  country. 

.  .  .  No  party  of  any  consequence  appears  to  attach  the 

least  value  to  the  Charter.' 

The  question  really,  therefore,  was  whether  the  success  of 

a  popular  revolution,  already  effected,  should  be  admitted,  or 

the  young  Queen  and  the  Constitution  should  be  imposed  on 

Portugal  by  British  bayonets,  and  kept  there  by  the  support 

of  British  troops.    Lord  Aberdeen  was  decidedly  of  opinion 

that  neither  the  interests  of  England  nor  of  Portugal  would 

be  benefited  by  such  a  course,  while  by  its  adoption  the 

constitution  itself  would  be  rendered  odious  to  the  people, 

as  the  badge  of  a  foreign  yoke.     It  is  not  easy  to  resist  the 

argument  contained  in  Lord  Aberdeen's  reply  to  M.  de 

Barbacena,  when  called  on  by  that  minister  to   interfere 

actively  on  behalf  of  the  young  Queen.     He  says  : 

It  is  then  either  for  the  purpose  of  resisting  successful 
rebellion,  or  for  that  of  deciding  by  force  a  question  of  doubt- 
ful succession,  that  Great  Britain  has  now  been  called  upon  to 
act.  But  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  that  any  independent 
State  could  ever  intend  thus  to  commit  the  direction  and 
control  of  its  internal  affairs  to  the  hands  of  another  power ; 
for  doubtless  if  His  Majesty  be  under  the  necessity  of  furnish- 
ing effectual  succour  in  the  event  of  any  internal  revolt  or 
dissension  in  Portugal,  it  would  become  a  duty,  and  indeed  it 
would  be  essential,  to  take  care  that  no  such  cause  should  exist 
if  it  could  possibly  be  prevented.  Hence  a  constant  and  minute 
interference  in  the  affairs  of  Portugal  would  be  indispensable, 
for  His  Majesty  could  never  consent  to  hold  his  fleets  and 
armies  at  the  disposal  of  a  king  of  Portugal  without  any  of  those 
due  precautions,  and  that  superintendence,  which  would  assure 
him  that  his  forces  would  not  be  liable  to  be  employed  in 
averting  the  effects  of  misgovernment,  folly,  or  caprice.  Is  this 
a  condition  of  things  in  which  any  State  professing  to  be"  in- 
dependent could  endure  to  exist  ? 


92  LORD  ABERDEEN 

The  demand  of  M.  de  Barbacena  was  echoed  in  the 
House  of  Lords  by  Lord  Holland.  To  him  Lord  Aberdeen 
pointed  out  that  it  would  be  preposterous  to  suppose  that 
the  obligation  undoubtedly  incumbent  on  Great  Britain 
to  defend  the  House  of  Braganza  from  foreign  invasion 
extended  to  the  case  of  internal  dissensions. 

It  would  (said  he)  be  quite  impossible  to  fulfil  such  engage- 
ments, if  they  had  ever  been  entered  into,  which  they  had  not. 
There  would  be  no  end  to  interference,  if  we  were  liable  to  be 
called  on  in  every  case  of  dispute  between  the  members  of 
that  family  or  between  the  king  and  his  people.  .  .  .  What- 
ever our  wishes  to  see  the  establishment  of  liberal  institutions, 
to  enforce  such  institutions  contrary  to  the  will  of  the  people 
would  be  to  do  that  which  could  not  be  approved  by  the  noble 
lord. 

No  one  nowadays  would  consider  it  possible  that  Great 
Britain  should  conceive  it  her  duty  to  aid  the  King  of 
Portugal  in  the  suppression  of  a  popular  revolt,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  provisions  of  an  antiquated  treaty  made 
more  than  five  hundred  years  ago  ;  and  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  how  the  Liberals  of  1830  could  be  induced  to 
depart  so  widely  from  their  accustomed  principles,  only 
because  such  a  departure  would  in  this  particular  instance 
have  been  favourable  to  the  cause  with  which  they  sym- 
pathised. Lord  Aberdeen  was  unquestionably  right  in  policy, 
and  probably  in  fact  also,  in  decHning  to  admit  that  any 
obligation  to  intervene  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  Portugal 
was  imposed  by  the  treaty  of  1370. 

But  if  not  obliged  to  do  so  by  the  provisions  of  a  treaty, 
certainly  no  British  interest  called  on  England  to  interfere 
in  a  purely  internal  struggle,  or  to  reverse  by  force  the 
popular  decision.  Dom  Miguel  was  in  quiet  and  undis- 
turbed  possession,  and  according  to  the  usual  practice  of 
recognising  a  de  facto  sovereign,  would  have  been  acknow- 
ledged by  other  States  as  king,  had  it  not  been  for  the 


THE   TERCEIRA   EXPEDITION  93 

unusually  odious  circumstances  of  his  usurpation.  The 
strong  sympathy  of  the  English  Government  with  the  young 
Queen,  the  legitimacy  of  whose  claims  it  recognised,  was 
shown  by  this  departure  from  the  ordinary  course,  and  by 
the  suspension  of  diplomatic  relations  with  Portugal.  But 
having  determined  on  the  observance  of  strict  neutrality, 
Lord  Aberdeen  was  fully  justified  in  saying,  as  he  did  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  that  '  of  all  courses  that  might  have  been 
adopted,  that  which  alone  was  perfectly  indefensible  was  to 
lay  down  this  principle  in  the  first  instance,  and  then  depart 
from  it  whenever  our  opinions,  feelings,  or  interests  prompted 
us  to  do  so.' 

One  exhibition  of  this  neutrality  was  especially  blamed 
by  the  Liberal  party.  This  was  the  interception,  by  an 
English  man-of-war,  of  troops  sent  by  Dom  Pedro's  agents 
from  Plymouth  to  Terceira  in  defiance  of  the  King's  pro- 
clamation and  the  provisions  of  the  Foreign  Enlistment 
Act,  as  well  as  those  of  international  law.  These  troops 
had  declared  for  Donna  Maria  at  Oporto,  but,  receiving  no 
support,  had  fled  precipitately  to  Spain,  which  country  they 
were  ordered  to  quit  within  a  month.  On  grounds  of 
humanity  the  British  Government  interposed  on  their  be- 
half ;  procured  for  them  permission  to  prolong  their  stay 
in  Spain,  and  promised  them  hospitality  for  a  time  in 
England,  on  their  way  to  Brazil,  whither  they  expressed 
their  intention  to  repair.  But  after  their  arrival  in  England 
it  appeared  that  it  was  the  intention  of  those  who  directed 
the  movements  of  these  troops  to  send  them  not  to  Brazil 
but  to  the  Azores.  All  these  islands  were  under  the  rule 
of  Dom  Miguel,  except  the  island  of  Terceira,  which  was 
divided,  the  population  being  in  favour  of  Dom  Miguel, 
and  the  garrison  of  the  fortress  having  declared  for  Donna 
Maria.     Dom  Pedro's  agent  was  informed  that  no  hostile 


94  LORD   ABERDEEN 

expedition  against  any  part  of  the  Portuguese  dominions 
could  be  permitted  to  start  from  England,  but  that  pro- 
hibition was  not  the  result  of  any  special  eagerness  to 
defeat  his  objects  ;  and  he  was  repeatedly  told  that  if  he 
would  only  take  his  troops  to  some  other  country,  France 
or  Brazil,  and  start  thence  on  his  expedition,  its  progress 
would  not  be  interfered  with,  and  its  success  or  failure 
would  become  a  matter  of  comparative  indifference. 

It  was  at  last  agreed  that  the  troops  should  go  to.  Brazil, 
but  having  by  false  clearances  effected  their  departure, 
they  set  sail  for  Terceira.  They  had  been  told  they  would 
not  be  allowed  to  land  there,  and  they  were  followed  and 
prevented  from  doing  so.  The  British  Government,  Lord 
Aberdeen  maintained,  had  a  right  to  prevent  that  being 
done  by  fraud  which  it  was  its  duty  to  prevent  being  done 
openly.  Had  it  not  done  so,  it  would  have  rendered  itself 
liable  to  compensate  Portuguese  subjects  for  all  injuries 
done  to  them  by  the  expedition,  and  would  have  given  the 
Portuguese  Government  a  just  cause  for  war,  a  course  not 
the  less  unjustifiable  because  it  was  unlikely  to  be  attended 
with  that  result. 

According  to  the  doctrines  now  generally  accepted,  the 
action  taken  by  the  English  Government  was  that  which, 
in  the  exercise  of  an  honest  neutrality,  was  incumbent  on 
it.  But,  while  on  the  one  hand  it  refused  to  protect  the 
sovereign,  the  legitimacy  of  whose  claims  it  acknowledged, 
against  the  revolt  of  her  subjects,  or  to  impose  a  particular 
form  of  government  on  a  people  unwilling  to  receive  it,  the 
Spanish  Court  on  the  other  was  sternly  forbidden  to  give  any 
aid  to  the  usurper.  When  British  interests  required  such  a 
course,  Dom  Miguel  was  addressed  in  language  of  undisguised 
menace.  British  subjects  had  been  molested,  and  the  rights 
secured  to  them  by  treaty  disregarded,  by  the  Portuguese 


RELATIONS   WITH   PORTUGAL  95 

Government.  In  consequence  of  energetic  representations 
made,  Dom  Miguel  issued  decrees  confirming  and  assuring 
to  foreign  residents  all  privileges  they  had  heretofore 
enjoyed.  But  this  was  by  no  means  sufficient  for  the 
English  Government,  which  observed  that  the  decrees,  how- 
ever satisfactory  in  general,  had  no  reference  to  the  par- 
ticular case  of  Marcos  Ascoli,  and  that,  if  within  three  days 
the  reparation  demanded  on  his  account  were  not  given, 
measures  would  at  once  be  taken  to  ensure  the  most  ample 
redress. 

Again,  eighteen  months  later,  the  Portuguese  Government 
was  told  that,  unless  the  demands  made  on  behalf  of  cer- 
tain British  vessels  improperly  detained  by  the  Portuguese 
blockading  squadron,  were  within  three  days  complied  with, 
an  adequate  force  would  be  directed  to  the  Azores,  there 
to  obtain  redress  for  injuries  already  committed  and  effec- 
tively to  prevent  their  recurrence. 

But,  however  little  sympathy  might  be  felt  by  Lord 
Aberdeen  for  Dom  Miguel  and  his  cause,  it  was  clear  to  all 
but  the  most  prejudiced  party  opponents  that,  after  he  had 
occupied  the  throne  of  Portugal  for  more  than  two  years 
without  resistance,  and  was  to  all  appearance  permanently 
and  peaceably  established  there,  his  recognition  could  not 
be  long  avoided.  In  1830  the  government  of  Dom  Miguel 
was,  and  had  been  for  two  years  past,  the  undisputed  govern- 
ment de  facto  of  Portugal ;  English  interests  were  injured 
by  the  absence  of  an  accredited  English  minister  ;  and 
though  abhorrence  of  Dom  Miguel's  character  and  conduct 
rendered  the  act  distasteful,  recognition  of  his  position  was 
sooner  or  later  inevitable.  There  can  be  no  question  that, 
but  for  events  in  Brazil,  which  did  not  take  place  till  after 
Lord  Aberdeen  had  quitted  the  Foreign  Office,  and  which  set 
Dom  Pedro  free  to  return  to  Europe  to  fight  in  his  daughter's 


g6  LORD   ABERDEEN 

cause,  the  Government  of  Lord  Grey  would  in  the  long  run 
have  equally  felt  obliged  to  acknowledge  accomplished 
facts,  and  to  recognise,  however  reluctantly,  Dom  Miguel 
as  King  of  Portugal. 

Another  popular  prejudice,  wholly  groundless,  but  which 
has  left  its  traces  on  the  traditions  of  liberalism,  is,  that 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  Lord  Aberdeen  entertained  a 
'strong  sympathy  with  the  reactionary  Government  of  France, 
and,  if  they  did  not  advise,  at  least  regarded  without  dis- 
pleasure its  attempts  to  recover  autocratic  power.  No 
mistake  could  be  greater.  The  public  correspondence  of 
Lord  Aberdeen  shows  how  clearly  he  saw  the  folly,  and 
how  decidedly  he  disapproved  the  violence,  of  the  French 
Government  ;  while  his  private  letters  prove  that  the 
Government  of  Charles  X.  was  regarded  by  him  from  first 
to  last  with  suspicion,  distrust,  and  dislike.  For  some 
time,  indeed,  before  the  revolution  of  July  1830,  a  discussion 
with  Prince  Polignac  had  been  in  progress,  which  daily 
assumed  a  more  threatening  aspect,  and  which,  but  for  that 
revolution,  might  not  improbably  have  brought  about  a  war 
between  France  and  England. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1829  rumours  reached  the  English 
Government  that  France  contemplated  an  expedition  against 
Algiers,  in  which  she  was  to  be  assisted  by  Mehemed  AH, 
Pasha  of  Egypt.  The  truth  of  these  rumours  was  persis- 
tently denied,  but  in  January  1830  Lord  Aberdeen  received 
copies  of  the  despatches  of  the  French  Ambassador  at  Con- 
stantinople to  his  Government,  which  Prince  Metternich  had 
found  means  to  intercept.  These  despatches  afforded  in- 
controvertible evidence  not  only  that  the  French  Govern- 
ment contemplated  an  expedition  against  Algiers,  but  also  of 
its  alliance  with  Mehemed  Ali,  who  was  to  receive  as  his 
reward  the  Regencies  of  Tunis  and  Tripoli.     The  English 


FRENCH   EXPEDITION   TO  ALGIERS  97 

Ambassador  at  Paris,  Lord  Stuart  de  Rothesay,  was  instructed 
to  make  inquiries  on  the  subject,  and  was  told  by  Prince 
PoHgnac  that  the  expedition  was  resolved  on,  and  would  en- 
force the  demolition  of  the  fortifications  of  Algiers  and  the 
abolition  of  piracy  and  slavery.  But  Prince  Polignac  at  the 
same  time  explicitly  denied  any  intention  on  the  part  of 
the  French  Government  to  form  any  colony,  or  place  French 
garrisons,  on  any  part  of  the  African  coast ;  and  on  a  later 
day  as  distinctly  assured  Lord  Stuart  that  he  should 

not  hesitate  to  declare  the  renunciation  of  any  intention  on  the 
part  of  the  French  Government  to  obtain  territory  on  the  coast 
of  Africa,  because  they  had  never  contemplated  such  acquisi- 
tion in  undertaking  this  expedition. 

But  this  was  only  stated  in  conversation,  and  no  such  ex- 
press renunciation  was  to  be  found  in  the  despatch  which, 
after  a  long  delay,  was  communicated  by  the  French  Am- 
bassador to  Lord  Aberdeen.  The  demand  for  such  an 
assurance  was  renewed  in  more  and  more  pressing  terms, 
and  Prince  Polignac  was  told  that 

His  Majesty's  Government  expect  that  His  Most  Christian 
Majesty  should  renounce  any  project  of  permanent  conquest  or 
aggrandisement ;  and  that  His  Majesty  should  give  some  inti- 
mation of  his  intentions  in  the  event  of  the  entire  subversion 
of  the  State  of  Algiers. 

The  promised  explanations  not  being  furnished.  Lord 

Aberdeen,  on  the  4th  of  May,  wrote  in  still  more  energetic 

language  : 

The  affair,  in  truth,  begins  to  wear  a  sinister  appearance,  and 
to  give  rise  to  doubts  and  suspicions  which  it  would  be  very  far 
from  the  desire  of  His  Majesty's  Government  to  entertain.  We 
have  a  duty  to  perform  from  which  we  cannot  shrink.  ...  If 
the  projects  of  the  French  Cabinet  be  as  pure  and  disinterested 
as  is  asserted  by  M.  de  Polignac,  he  can  have  no  real  difficulty 
in  giving  us  the  most  entire  satisfaction. 

The  anticipated  communication  was  made  a  few  days 
later ;  but    it    was   received   by   Lord    Aberdeen,    as    he 

H 


98  LORD  ABERDEEN 

informed  Lord  Stuart,  'with  astonishment  and  concern,' 
for  in  it 

the  French  Minister,  after  detaiHng  at  much  length  the  nature 
and  objects  of  the  expedition,  and  complaining  of  the  unreason- 
able expectations  of  His  Majesty's  Government,  declines  to 
give  any  further  explanations  or  assurances  in  an  official  form. 

Lord  Stuart  was  instructed  to  draw  the  serious  attention 
of  Prince  Polignac  to  the  promises  which  had  been  made 
and  the  pledges  repeatedly  given,  as  well  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  now  proposed  that  they  should  be  redeemed, 
and  the  despatch  closed  with  the  significant  hint  that, 

when  you  shall  have  reported  the  result  of  this  appeal  thus 
made  to  the  consistency  and  good  faith  of  M.  de  Polignac,  it 
will  be  my  duty  humbly  to  take  His  Majesty's  commands 
respecting  such  further  instructions  to  Your  Excellency  as  the 
occasion  may  seem  to  require. 

While,  however,  Prince  Polignac  refused  any  official  ex- 
planation, he  continued,  privately,  to  disclaim  all  intention 
of  conquest ;  and  on  July  19  he  told  Lord  Stuart  that, 

as  to  territorial  possession,  he  intended  to  acknowledge  the 
authority  of  the  Porte,  to  negotiate  with  it  exclusively  for  the 
possession  of  the  small  posts  France  claimed  before  the  war, 
and  to  leave  the  Porte  to  make  its  own  arrangements  for  secur- . 
ing  its  authority  over  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  the  Regency. 

Whether  the  French  Government  would  have  had  the  cou- 
rage to  carry  out  its  professions — whether,  indeed,  it  even 
intended  to  do  so — may  be  doubtful.  But  it  is  clear  that 
there  would  have  been  difficulty  in  evading  the  promises  it 
had  already  made,  and  that  a  serious  breach  with  Great 
Britain  would  have  resulted  from  such  a  course.  Ten  days, 
however,  after  this  conversation  with  Lord  Stuart,  not 
M.  de  Polignac  alone,  but  the  dynasty  he  served,  was  over- 
thrown by  the  Revolution  which  drove  Charles  X.  from 
France. 

This  catastrophe  was  little  anticipated  by  Lord  Stuart, 


REVOLUTION    OF    1830  99 

who,  on   July  23,  the   very  day  before   the   issue   of  the 

Ordinances,  wrote  : 

.  .  .  The  various  reports  respecting  the  possibility  of  a 
coup  d^etat  I  believe  to  be  utterly  unfounded. 

On  the  receipt  of  intelligence  of  the  issue  of  the  Ordi- 
nances, unaccompanied  as  it  at  first  appeared  to  be  by  any 
serious  disturbance,  Lord  Stuart  was  at  once  instructed  to 
deliver  no  opinion 

either  to  the  French  Government,  to  his  colleagues,  or  to  any 
other  person,  and  to  declare  that  this  reserve  is  prescribed  by 
the  express  instructions  of  his  Government.  This  silence  will 
sufficiently  indicate  the  nature  of  the  impression  which  has  been 
produced  upon  the  minds  of  His  Majesty's  Government  by  the 
recent  decision  of  the  Cabinet  of  the  Tuileries. 

In  writing  privately  to  Lord  Stuart  on  the  following  day, 
Lord  Aberdeen  expressed  his  own  opinion,  that  the  question 
to  be  decided  was,  '  whether  a  monarchy  under  any  form 
will  be  permitted  to  exist,  or  whether  we  shall  again  see  a 
republic  ; '  but  mentioned  the  fact,  which  is  a  curious  one, 
that,  '  notwithstanding  the  astonishment,  and  even  alarm, 
which  prevail  here,  the  effect  on  the  funds  has  been  but 
slight,  the  persuasion  in  the  City  being  that  a  change  of 
ministers  will  set  all  to  rights.'  It  is  impossible  within 
these  limits  to  describe  in  any  detail  the  very  interesting 
correspondence  carried  on  with  Lord  Stuart  during  the 
progress  of  the  Revolution ;  but  I  may  mention  one  inci- 
dent, not,  I  believe,  generally  known.  On  August  5,  Lord 
Stuart  wrote  that  King  Charles  X.  had  reason  to  believe 
that  it  was  intended  that  the  vessel  on  which  he  was  to  be 
embarked  should  convey  him  to  the  United  States,  and  re- 
quested that  two  EngHsh  vessels  should  be  sent  to  Cher- 
bourg to  escort  the  royal  family  to  Jersey,  or  wherever  else 
they  might  determine  to  seek  an  asylum.  Lord  Aberdeen 
replied  : 

H  % 


100  LORD   ABERDEEN 

If,  under  pretence  of  allowing  the  King  to  go  where  he 
pleases  he  should  be  kidnapped  and  taken  to  America,  it  is 
clear  that  our  interference  to  prevent  it,  to  be  effectual,  must  be 
forcible,  and  would  therefore  be  a  measure  of  war.  Odious  and 
detestable  as  such  an  act  would  be,  we  should  not  be  justified 
in  resenting  it  in  this  manner.  If  our  interference  should  be 
merely  officious,  we  shall  clearly  do  injury  to  the  King,  and 
give  evidence  of  hostility  against  the  new  Government,  which 
it  is  most  desirable  at  present  to  avoid.  I  confess  that  I  am 
not  disposed  to  believe  in  the  intention  ascribed  to  the  French 
Government  ;  but  even  if  it  were  certain,  our  interference  could 
not  but  be  disadvantageous,  and  ought  most  assuredly  not  to 
be  thought  of. 

Nor  is  it  possible  for  us  to  take  the  responsibility  of  giving 
advice  respecting  the  disposal  of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux.  The 
situation  of  the  King  in  this  respect  is  the  most  difficult  and 
cruel  which  can  be  imagined,  but  it  is  not  foreign  advice 
which  can  improve  it. 

The  Duke  of  Wellington  was  at  first  disposed  to  abstain 
from  any  recognition  of  the  Revolution  until  after  the  allies 
had  been  consulted,  nor  did  he  wholly  reject  the  idea 
of  subsequent  intervention.  Lord  Aberdeen  energetically 
combated  these  views  during  the  first  week  in  August, 
arguing  that  the  case  was  not  one  foreseen  by  the  treaties, 
and  that  the  unconstitutional  action  of  Charles  X.  had  re- 
lieved the  allies  from  all  obligations  to  support  him.  And 
he  further  urged  that,  unless  it  was  intended  to  engage  in 
a  war  to  which  he  would  be  no  party,  it  was  folly  to  throw 
away  any  chance  of  preserving  peace  ;  and  that  the  recogni- 
tion of  Louis  Philippe,  if  made  at  all,  would  be  far  more 
useful  if  made  at  once. 

In  a  few  days  the  Duke  acquiesced. 

I  will  immediately  go  to  London  (he  wrote  on  the  12th 
August),  and  we  can  then  decide  whether  we  will  act  without 
assembling  the  Cabinet.  There  are  some  bitter  pills  to 
swallow.  .  .  .  However,  the  best  chance  of  peace  is  to  swallow 
them  all.  If  we  don't  quarrel  with  them  they  must  set  these 
matters  to  rights,  or  quarrel  among  themselves,  or  quarrel  with 
us.  Any  one  of  these  would  be  better  for  us  and  for  the  world 
than  that  we  should  at  this  moment  quarrel  with  them. 


RECOGNITION   OF   LOUIS   PHILIPPE  101 

And  on  the  14th,  after  repeating  his  former  opinion  that 
he  was  'quite  certain  that  the  case  is  one  of  revolution, 
and  that  we  are  bound  by  treaty  to  concert  with  our  allies,' 
he  added  the  admission  that  '  circumstances  render  it  ex- 
pedient for  their  interest,  as  well  as  our  own,  that  we  should 
act  without  that  concert,  and  we  must  take  that  course.' 

Louis  Philippe  was  accordingly  at  once  recognised  as 
King  of  the  French  j  and  an  elaborate  despatch  in  explana- 
tion of  this  step  was  written  by  Lord  Aberdeen,  and  sent  to 
all  the  principal  courts  of  Europe. 

The  decision  not  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  France,  and 
to  recognise  the  right  of  that  country  to  effect  a  revolution 
very  similar  to  that  which  had  taken  place  in  England  in 
1688,  will  not  now  be  questioned  ;  but  that  the  uncon- 
stitutional action  of  Charles  X.  freed  the  allies  from  the 
obligations  entered  into  by  them  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  is 
perhaps  more  open  to  dispute.  This  initial  difficulty, 
however,  being  surmounted,  and  a  policy  of  neutrality 
resolved  on,  the  arguments  urged  in  favour  of  the  im- 
mediate recognition  of  Louis  Philippe  were  incontestable. 

The  French  Revolution  was  in  a  few  weeks  followed 
by  an  insurrection  in  Belgium,  which  bad  management 
speedily  converted  into  a  revolution.  Questions  more 
difficult  of  solution  than  those  involved  in  the  recognition 
of  the  French  Revolution  were  thus  raised.  Whatever 
might  be  said  as  to  the  inapplicability  of  the  protocol  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle  to  the  existing  state  of  things  in  France,  it 
was  impossible  to  deny  that  the  obvious  prima  facie  inter- 
pretation of  existing  engagements  under  the  treaties  of  1814 
and  1 81 5  bound  England  and  her  allies  to  maintain  the 
integrity  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands,  and  to  comply 
with  the  King's  request  for  their  armed  intervention  be- 
tween himself  and  his  revolted  subjects.     But  the  Duke  of 


I02  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Wellington  and  Lord  Aberdeen  were  resolved  not  to  adopt 
a  course  which  would  have  rendered  war  with  France  all 
but  inevitable,  and  were  most  anxious  to  engage  the  French 
Government  in  negotiations  which  would,  at  all  events, 
prevent  any  open  assistance  being  afforded  to  the  Belgian 
insurgents  from  that  quarter.  In  the  pursuit  of  these  ob- 
jects they  were  most  efficaciously  aided  by  Talleyrand,  who 
had  been  sent  to  London  as  French  Ambassador  by  Louis 
Philippe  ;  and  it  is  not  impossible,  nor  indeed  improbable, 
that  with  his  assistance  means  would  have  been  found  to 
maintain  the  link  which  bound  together  the  provinces  of 
the  Netherlands,  while  giving  effect  to  the  just  complaints 
of  Belgium. 

But  Lord  Aberdeen's  share  in  the  negotiations  was 
brought  to  an  abrupt  close  by  the  defeat  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington's  Government  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
its  consequent  resignation  on  November  i6,  1830. 


CHAPTER   V 

OPPOSITION — COLONIAL    OFFICE  I    1830-4I 

Reform  Bill — Marriage  of  Lord  Abercorn — Death  of  Lady  Alice 
Gordon,  of  Lady  Aberdeen,  and  of  Lady  Frances  Gordon— Forma- 
tion of  Sir  R.  Peel's  Government— Colonial  Office — Mr.  Gladstone 
— Canada  —  Opposition  —  Private  Life  —  Opinions  on  Foreign 
Affairs — Again  becomes  Foreign  Secretary. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  I  have  dealt  only  with  the 
business  of  the  department  over  which  Lord  Aberdeen  pre- 
sided, and  have  made  no  allusion  to  the  general  conduct  of 
the  Government  of  which  he  was  a  member.  In  the  ordi- 
nary administration  of  domestic  affairs  he  took  little  part, 
and  indeed  felt  but  comparatively  little  interest.  In  the 
progress,  however,  of  the  two  great  measures  of  home  policy 
which  were  carried  through  Parliament  by  the  Duke  of 
Wellington's  Government,  he  had  the  warmest  sympathy. 
The  repeal  of  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts  was,  of  course, 
in  entire  accordance  with  his  tolerant  and  liberal  views,  and 
he  had  long  advocated  the  repeal  of  the  disabilities  under 
which  Roman  Catholics  then  laboured.  He  had  not,  like 
many  of  his  colleagues,  opinions  on  that  subject  to  recant, 
or  pledges  to  violate  ;  and  the  conversion  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  and  Sir  Robert  Peel,  if  not  exactly  to  the  views 
he  entertained,  at  all  events  to  the  practical  course  he  de- 
sired to  follow,  gave  him  unmixed  pleasure.  He  alone,  I 
believe,  of  the  Cabinet  protested  against  the  foolish  step  of 
invaHdating  the  Clare  election. 


104  LORD   ABERDEEN 

On  the  Reform  question  his  views  were  moderate,  and 
he  was  wholly  unprepared  for  the  declaration  made  by  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  on  November  2,  1830.  He  has  often 
said  that,  had  the  Duke  spoken  to  him  previously  on  the 
subject,  he  could  have  kept  him  from  uttering  the  idolatrous 
eulogy  he  then  pronounced  on  the  unreformed  Parliament. 
But  when  the  Duke  was  on  his  legs  he  was  wont,  if  he  had 
to  praise  at  all,  to  deal  in  superlatives,  and  to  employ 
exaggerated  language.  Services  which  he  commended  were 
always  ranked  as  among  the  most  remarkable  he  had  ever 
known  ;  institutions  he  approved  were  apt  to  be  described 
as  faultless.  When  the  Duke  resumed  his  seat,  he  turned 
to  Lord  Aberdeen,  who  sat  beside  him,  and  said  :  *  I  have 
not  said  too  much,  have  I  ?  '  Lord  Aberdeen  put  his  chin 
forward,  with  a  gesture  habitual  to  him  when  much  moved, 
and  only  replied  :  '  YouUl  hear  of  it ! '  After  leaving  the 
House  he  was  asked  what  the  Duke  had  said.  '  He  said 
that  we  were  going  out,'  was  the  reply.  From  that  moment 
Lord  Aberdeen  considered  the  doom  of  the  Cabinet  sealed. 
It  fell  a  fortnight  later,  November  18,  1830. 

With  the  new  Government  the  question  of  Reform  took 
precedence  of  all  others,  and  on  this  question  Lord  Aber- 
deen, while  not  caring  to  dissociate  himself  from  his  party, 
was  in  but  imperfect  sympathy  with  it.  He  never  forgot, 
and  often  repeated,  that  Mr.  Pitt  had  remained  until  his 
death  convinced  of  the  expediency  of  considerable  reforms 
in  the  system  of  parliamentary  representation,  and  that, 
though  the  scheme  was  laid  nside  for  the  time  as  unsuitable 
for  discussion  during  the  course  of  a  great  war,  it  was  not 
abandoned,  but  only  deferred  to  some  later  period  of  the 
career  which  the  still  young  minister,  unconscious  of  his 
approaching  death,  fancied  yet  lay  before  him.  In  the 
abstract  Lord  Aberdeen  was  not  unfavourable  to  reform,  but 


REFORM    BILL   OF    1 832  t05 

this  did  not  lead  him  to  desire  so  complete  a  revolution  in 
the  balance  of  the  Constitution  as  was  involved  in  the  pro- 
visions of  Lord  John  Russell's  Reform  Bill.  He  believed, 
and  rightly  believed,  that  it  would  destroy  the  existing  aristo- 
cratic constitution,  and  this  he  regarded  as  in  itself  an  evil. 
He  did  not,  on  the  one  hand,  share  the  delusion  of  Lord 
Grey,  that  the  influence  of  the  House  of  Lords  would  be 
little  impaired,  and  that,  though  abuses  would  be  abolished, 
affairs  would  continue  with  little  alteration  in  the  old  groove. 
Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  did  he  hold,  with  the  Radicals, 
that  the  destruction  of  the  old  aristocratic  influence  would 
be  beneficial  to  the  nation.  But  he  saw  that  the  omission 
to  make  moderate  reforms,  which,  if  effected  before  the 
French  Revolution  of  1830,  might  have  rendered  further 
changes  for  some  time  unnecessary,  had  now  made  a  very 
large  measure  of  reform  unavoidable.  Entertaining  as  he 
did  the  opinion  that  such  a  measure,  however  inevitable, 
would  be  attended  by  unfortunate  consequences,  he  con- 
sidered that  the  House  of  Lords  should  in  the  first  instance 
reject  the  Bill  as  a  solemn  protest  against  its  tendency,  but 
that  when  brought  up  again  it  should  accept  the  measure 
and  face  its  consequences.  Among  those  consequences  the 
House  must  be  prepared  to  admit  that  henceforth  its  duties 
would  be  only  those  of  checking  and  revising  decisions 
which  it  would  no  longer  be  able  to  reverse. 

That  under  the  present  condition  of  affairs  this  is  the 
true  function  of  the  House  of  Lords  is  now  generally  ad- 
mitted, but  this  was  recognised  by  few  in  1831.  Lord 
Aberdeen's  view,  that  the  Bill  should  be  protested  against 
but  passed,  was  ridiculed  and  scoffed  at  by  Whigs,  Tories 
and  Radicals  with  equal  impartiality.  Lord  Grey  was 
unable  to  see  how  greatly  the  balance  of  the  old  Constitution 
was  destroyed,  and  in  his  correspondence  with  Madame  de 


Io6  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Lieven  sneered  at  what  seemed  to  him  Lord  Aberdeen's 
strange  notions.  The  Tories  saw  in  the  suggestion  of 
ultimate  acquiescence  a  cowardly  abandonment  of  the 
coequal  right  of  the  Lords  to  reject  any  measure  of  the 
Commons  of  which  they  disapproved  ;  and  the  Radicals 
exclaimed  at  the  apparent  absurdity  of  any  man  opposing, 
in  the  first  instance,  a  measure  which  he  was  prepared 
ultimately  to  allow  to  pass.  With  characteristic  indiffer- 
ence he  took  no  trouble  to  explain,  except  to  very  few,  the 
grounds  of  his  opinion.  When,  however,  in  1832,  on  the 
resignation  of  Lord  Grey  in  consequence  of  a  check  in 
the  progress  of  the  Reform  Bill,  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
attempted  to  form  a  Government,  and  asked  Lord  Aberdeen 
to  resume  his  place  at  the  Foreign  Office,  there  was  no 
obstacle  on  principle  to  his  acceptance  of  the  invitation, 
although  he  from  the  first  predicted  that  success  in  such  an 
attempt  was  at  the  moment  altogether  impossible. 

The  Duke  of  Wellington's  attempt  to  form  a  Government 
ended  disastrously  in  less  than  a  week,  and  having  con- 
sented to  form  part  of  a  Government  which  was  to  have 
accepted  the  Reform  Bill,  it  appeared  to  Lord  Aberdeen 
inconsistent  to  oppose  the  further  progress  of  the  measure. 
He  consequently  retired  to  Scotland.  There  the  Reform 
Bill  effected  an  even  more  complete  revolution  of  the 
electoral  system  than  in  England.  Up  to  that  time  none 
but  landed  proprietors  had  votes  at  the  election  of  county 
members  in  Scotland,  while  the  borough  members  were 
returned  by  the  town  councils.  A  thoroughly  popular 
franchise  was  now  substituted.  Lord  Aberdeen's  supremacy 
in  Aberdeenshire  was  not,  however,  disturbed  by  the  new 
electorate,  and  his  brother  Captain  William  Gordon,  who 
had  represented  the  county  since  181 8,  under  the  old 
system,  was    on   the    dissolution   re-elected   to    the   first 


DEATH   OF   LADY  ALICE  GORDON  107 

Reformed  Parliament  by  a  great  majority.  On  October 
25  th,  Lord  and  Lady  Aberdeen  were  present  at  Gordon 
Castle,  at  the  marriage  of  Lord  Abercorn  to  Lady  Louisa 
Russell,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford.  Lord  Aber- 
corn had  just  attained  his  majority,  and  this  marriage  gave 
both  Lord  and  Lady  Aberdeen  the  liveliest  pleasure.  It 
was  the  commencement  of  a  happy  union  of  more  than 
fifty  years'  duration.  But  this  was  only  a  bright  gleam  amid 
the  anxieties  and  sorrows  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  domestic  life, 
as  to  which,  since  his  acceptance  of  office  in  1828,  we  have 
been  silent,  and  to  which  we  must  now  return. 

In  1827  an  improvement  seemed  to  have  taken  place  in 
Lady  Alice's  health,  and  hopes  were  entertained  that  she 
might  outgrow  her  constitutional  delicacy.  But  in  1828 
she  grew  worse,  and  the  end  evidently  approached.  Every 
spare  moment  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  time  was  passed  with 
her  :  his  first  inquiry  and  first  visit  on  returning  from  the 
House  of  Lords  or  from  the  Foreign  Office  were  for  her. 
All  that  skill  could  do  was  done,  but  in  vain,  and  on  April 
29,  1829,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  she  passed  away  in  his 
arms,  where  for  hours  previously^she  had  lain.  For  some 
days  afterwards  he  shut  himself  up  at  the  Foreign  Office 
absolutely  alone. 

The  unintermitting  anxiety  which,  during  the  last  ten 
years,  had  been  his  chief  preoccupation  was  now  over. 
None  of  the  children  of  his  Catherine  now  remained  alive. 
One  by  one  they  had  faded  before  his  eyes,  through  long 
periods  of  pain  and  suffering.  '  I  have  known  many 
sorrows, '  he  wrote  in  his  solitude ;  but  from  those  sor- 
rows he  sought  to  draw  their  true  lesson.  About  this  time 
Uvedale  Price  wrote  thus  to  Rogers  : 

I  shall  never  forget  my  having  seen,  some  twenty  years  ago, 
a  number  of  children  coming  out  of  a  house  in  Grosvenor 


I08  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Square.  I  was  so  struck  by  their  beauty  that,  when  they 
had  passed  by  me,  I  went  up  to  the  porter,  who,  with  the 
door  half  open,  was  following  them  with  his  eyes,  and  asked 
him  whose  children  they  were.  'Lord  Aberdeen's,'  he  an- 
swered, 'and  there  is  not  a  finer  family  in  all  Britain.'  I 
soon  afterwards  became  acquainted  with  Lord  Aberdeen, 
and  soon  very  intimate  ;  was  continually  at  the  Priory,  and 
saw  these  beautiful  and  amiable  children  growing  up  in  all 
their  loveliness  ;  but  mixed  with  the  colour  of  youth  and 
beauty  was  that  of  disease,  with  the  '  terrific  glory'  of  Homer's 
Sirius. 

AafiTrpoTaros  /xei/  oS'  eVrt,  kukov  Se  re  arjjia  TervKTai, 
Kai  re  (f)€p€i  ttoWov  nvperov  deiKola-i  ^poToicnv. 

Not  long  after  Lord  Abercorn's  marriage,  the  health  of 
Lady  Aberdeen  began  to  fail,  and  after  a  very  long  and 
painful  illness  she  expired  at  Argyll  House  on  August 
26,  1833.  She  was  truly  and  long  lamented,  and  her  loss 
cast  an  additional  shade  of  gloom  over  the  remaining 
years  of  an  already  overclouded  life.  In  the  same  year 
which  had  seen  Lady  Alice's  death,  Lady  Aberdeen's 
youngest  son  was  born.  To  him  Lord  Aberdeen  at  once 
transferred  something  of  the  love  he  had  borne  his  lost 
daughter.  The  child  was  a  sickly  infant,  and  on  Lady 
Aberdeen's  death,  as  the  youngest,  frailest,  and  most  helpless 
of  her  children,  became  the  object  of  his  tenderest  and  most 
constant  solicitude. 

In  the  spring  which  succeeded  Lady  Aberdeen's  death 
she  was  followed  to  the  grave  by  her  only  daughter,  Lady 
Frances,  in  her  sixteenth  year.  The  loss  of  this,  his  last 
remaining  daughter,  was  a  new  wound  to  Lord  Aberdeen. 
On  hearing  of  it,  his  old  and  intimate  friend,  Madame  de 
Lieven,  proposed  to  come  down  to  stay  with  him  at  the 
Priory,  where  he  then  was.  He  wrote  to  thank  her,  but 
told  her  that  if  she  came  she  would  not  find  him,  as  he  was 
going  at  once  to  a  distant  part  of  the  country.  *  You  must 
not  think  me  churlish  or  insensible  if  I   shun  even  your 


HADDO    HOUSE  IO9 

society  at  this  moment.  There  are  some  misfortunes  which 
are  too  great  for  speech.' 

Lord  Aberdeen  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  summer  and 
autumn  at  Haddo,  keeping  up  a  constant  correspondence 
with  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  Sir  Robert  Peel,  Madame  de 
Lieven,  and  others,  but  chiefly  occupied  by  the  improve- 
ment of  his  estate  and  the  development  of  his  park  and 
pleasure-grounds.  These  were  no  longer  the  dreary  waste 
which  thirty  years  earlier  they  had  been.  Plantations 
were  everywhere  assuming  the  character  of  woods  ;  a  stately 
avenue,  a  mile  in  length,  stretched  from  the  house  to  a  hill 
in  the  deer  park.  A  large  lake  had  taken  the  place  of  a 
morass.  Roads  intersected  the  grounds  in  every  direction, 
and  the  flower-beds  and  terraces  were  bright  with  colour. 
In  the  house  itself  much  had  been  done  in  the  way  of 
addition  and  alteration,  which  now  rendered  it,  if  not  a 
first-class  house,  at  least  a  very  habitable  one.  On  the 
estates,  evidences  of  the  improvements  which  had  been 
prosecuted  with  untiring  vigour  for  thirty  years  were  on  all 
sides  to  be  seen.  The  ruinous  'farm-town'  of  1800  had 
been  replaced  on  almost  every  one  of  the  nine  hundred 
farms  by  a  comfortable  and  substantial,  if  remarkably  ugly 
house  and  farm  buildings  of  granite.  But,  much  as  had 
been  done,  there  were  still  mosses  to  drain  and  wastes  to 
plant,  and  much  other  work  yet  to  do.  From  these  pursuits 
Lord  Aberdeen  was  summoned  in  the  middle  of  November 
1834  by  a  most  characteristic  letter  from  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  calling  him  to  his  assistance  in  London.  The 
Duke  told  him  of  the  king's  coup  d'etat^  and  that  the  Govern- 
ment had  '  gone  out  sulkily,'  but  that  he  '  had  been  very 
cool  and  quiet,  and  engaged  to  keep  things  very  cool  and 
quiet,'  till  Peel's  return. 

The  Duke  was  desirous   that  Lord   Aberdeen  should 


no  LORD   ABERDEEN 

resume  his  place  at  the  Foreign  Office,  his  own  assumption 

of  that  post  being,  he  thought,  objectionable  on  account  of 

his  deafness.     But  this  obstacle  was  overruled. 

The  Duke  (wrote  Lord  Aberdeen  to  Madame  de  Lieven) 
is  at  the  Foreign  Office,  having  been  urged,  by  me  certainly 
more  strongly  than  by  anyone,  to  go  there.  His  own  wish  was 
that  I  should  have  resumed  the  situation  ;  but  I  could  not  be 
blind  to  the  superior  weight  of  his  name  and  influence.  I  had 
intended  to  decline  for  myself  any  other  laborious  office,  and 
was  to  have  been  President  of  the  Council,  which  would  have 
enabled  me  to  give  the  greater  part  of  my  time  to  foreign 
affairs.  I  was,  however,  first  persuaded  to  accept  the  Admiralty; 
and  since  that  time  I  have,  though  much  against  my  inclina- 
tion, been  appointed  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies. 

This  office  was  highly  distasteful  to  him,  and  it  was 
with  sincere  relief  that  he  relinquished  its  uncongenial 
duties  on  the  overthrow  of  Sir  Robert  Peel's  short  Ad- 
ministration in  the  spring  of  1835.  His  dislike  of  the  post 
was  due  chiefly  to  two  causes — the  amount  of  patronage 
which  then  belonged  to  it,  the  distribution  of  which  was  to 
him  odious  ;  and  the  existence  in  almost  every  colony  of 
what  he  recognised  as  true  and  well-founded  grievances, 
which  were  nevertheless  so  mixed  up  with  faction  and  un- 
reasonable pretensions  as  to  render  their  redress  a  work  of 
the  utmost  embarrassment  and  difficulty.  Everywhere  he 
found  agitation  and  discontent.  'As  a  lover  of  your 
country '  (he  wrote  to  his  old  friend  Gurney)  '  you  will  be 
glad  to  hear  that  Heligoland  is  quiet  and  contented.  This 
it  is  something  to  be  able  to  say,  for  of  no  other  colony  can 
it  be  said.' 

In  after  years  Lord  Aberdeen  was  accustomed  to  say 
that  the  irksomeness  of  the  Colonial  Office  was  accom- 
panied by  but  one  compensation — that  which  was  to  be 
found  in  the  pleasure  which  he  derived  from  the  constant 
society  and  companionship  of  Sir  James  Stephen,  then 
Permanent   Under-Secretary   of    State   for    the   Colonies, 


FIRST   MEETS   MR.    GLADSTONE  III 

in  whose  conversation  Lord  Aberdeen  found  a  peculiar 
charm. 

But  his  intercourse  with  his  Political  Under  Secretary 
was  also  destined  to  become  the  foundation  of  a  lifelong 
friendship,  for  it  was  in  that  capacity  that  he  first  made 
acquaintance  with  Mr.  Gladstone. 

In  the  same  letter  to  Mr.  Gurney  from  which  I  have 

already  quoted,  Lord  Aberdeen  says  : — 

In  consequence  of  the  defeat  of  my  Under  Secretary  in  the 
county  of  Forfar,  I  have  been  obliged  to  appoint  another.  I 
have  chosen  a  young  man  whom  I  did  not  know,  and  whom  I 
never  saw,  but  of  whose  good  character  and  abilities  I  had 
often  heard.  He  is  the  young  Gladstone,  and  I  hope  he  will  do 
well.  He  has  no  easy  part  to  play  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
but  it  is  a  fine  opening  for  a  young  man  of  talent  and  ambition, 
and  places  him  in  the  way  to  the  highest  distinction.  He 
appears  to  be  so  amiable  that  personally  I  am  sure  I  shall  like 
him. 

Mr.  Gladstone  himself  thus  describes  their  first  inter- 
view : 

On  an  evening  in  the  month  of  January  1835  I  was  sent 
for  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  and  received  from  him  the  offer,  which 
I  accepted,  of  the  Under  Secretaryship  for  the  Colonies.  From 
him  I  went  on  to  your  father,  who  was  thus  to  be,  in  official 
home-talk,  my  master.  Without  any  apprehension  of  hurting 
you,  I  may  confess  that  I  went  in  fear  and  trembling.  I  knew 
Lord  Aberdeen  only  by  public  rumour.  Distinction  of  itself 
naturally  and  properly  rather  alarms  the  young.  I  had  heard 
of  his  high  character ;  but  I  had  also  heard  of  him  as  a  man 
of  cold  manners,  and  close  and  even  haughty  reserve.  It  was 
dusk  when  I  entered  his  room — the  one  on  the  first  floor,  with 
the  bow-window  looking  to  the  Park — so  that  I  saw  his  figure 
rather  than  his  countenance.  I  do  not  recollect  the  matter  of 
the  conversation ;  but  I  well  remember  that,  before  I  had  been 
three  minutes  with  him,  all  my  apprehensions  had  melted 
away  like  snow  in  the  sun  ;  and  I  came  away  from  that  inter- 
view, conscious  indeed — as  who  could  fail  to  be  conscious  ? — 
of  his  dignity,  but  of  a  dignity  so  tempered  by  a  peculiar  purity 
.and  gentleness,  and  so  associated  with  impressions  of  his  kind- 
ness, and  even  friendship,  that  I  believe  I  thought  more  about 
the  wonder  of  his  being  at  that  time  so  misunderstood  by  the 
outer  world,  than  about  the  new  duties  and  responsibilities  of 
my  new  office. 


112  LORD   ABERDEEN 

*  Misunderstood  '  he  most  unquestionably  was,  and  that 
to  a  degree  which  is  truly  surprising,  making  every  allow- 
ance for  party  misrepresentations  and  the  unfavourable 
impression  produced  by  his  own  reserve  and  seclusion. 
On  the  assembling  of  Parliament  in  1835,  Lord  Howick 
vehemently  assailed  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  Lord 
Aberdeen  as  the  leaders  of  the  new  Government  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  denounced  the  latter  as  a  man  whose 
principles  made  him  an  enemy  of  the  human  race  !  Three 
years  later,  in  1838,  Lord  Howick  very  handsomely  ad- 
mitted that  such  terms  had  been  undeserved,  and  that, 
on  returning  to  office,  he  had  found  (no  doubt  to  his 
surprise)  that,  both  in  what  he  had  written  and  what  he 
had  done.  Lord  Aberdeen's  short  administration  of  the 
Colonial  Office  was  marked  by  thorough  liberahty.  In 
later  years  no  one  more  highly  appreciated  Lord  Aberdeen 
than  Lord  Grey  (as  Lord  Howick  had  then  become). 
But  in  1838  Lord  Howick  did  not  know,  and  I  doubt 
whether  he  is  to  this  day  aware,  that,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  speech  to  which  I  have  referred,  it  was  to  him  that 
Lord  Aberdeen  had  resolved  to  offer  the  conduct  of  the 
measures  to  be  taken  for  the  conciliation  of  the  Canadian 
people.  Lord  Aberdeen,  indeed,  still  wished  to  make  the 
offer,  even  after  the  denunciation  in  question,  but  on  this 
Sir  Robert  Peel  placed  his  veto.  Lord  Howick,  he  said, 
could  not  now  accept  the  proposal,  and  might  therefore 
affect  to  doubt  the  sincerity  with  which  it  had  been  made ; 
while  the  offer  itself  would,  in  the  circumstances,  be 
hardly  compatible  with  the  consideration  due  to  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,  or  indeed  with  self-respect  on  the  part  of 
Lord  Aberdeen. 

Short,  however,  as  was  his  tenure  of  the  office,  and  much 
as  he  disliked  its  duties.  Lord  Aberdeen,  while  Secretary  of 


FOREIGN   POLICY  II3 

State  for  the  Colonies,  contrived  to  take  some  steps  of  con- 
siderable importance.  His  instructions  to  Lord  Amherst, 
whom  he  had  intended  to  send  as  High  Commissioner 
to  Canada,  with  full  powers  not  only  to  investigate  but  to 
settle  on  the  most  liberal  principles  the  grievances  of  the 
colony,  were  considered  by  him  one  of  his  best  composi- 
tions, and  were  certainly  full  of  wisdom  and  justice.  The 
intention  was  not  carried  into  effect  by  his  successor. 

Lord  Aberdeen  had  given  a  silent  vote  against  the 
Reform  Bill,  and  took  no  active  part  in  the  agitating  dis- 
cussions on  domestic  affairs  which  occurred  in  the  two 
first  short  Parliaments  of  William  IV.  But  he  criticised 
severely  the  conduct  of  foreign  affairs  by  Lord  Grey's 
Government,  which  was  already  strongly  marked  by  the 
peculiar  characteristics  of  Lord  Palmerston's  meddlesome 
and  irritating  policy.  On  again  finding  himself  in  opposi- 
tion, after  the  fall  of  Sir  Robert  Peel's  Government,  Lord 
Aberdeen  continued  these  criticisms,  and  again  steadily 
opposed  the  principle,  which  he  deemed  a  vicious  one,  on 
which  that  policy  was  based, — the  principle,  justified  by 
Lord  Palmerston  (to  use  his  own  words),  of  '  intermeddling, 
and  intermeddling  in  every  way  and  to  every  extent  short  of 
actual  military  force,'  ^  in  the  affairs  of  other  countries, 
under  the  impression  that  by  so  doing  he  increased  the 
influence  of  England.  Lord  Aberdeen,  on  the  other  hand, 
held  that  the  influence  of  England  was  really  diminished 
by  such  a  course,  and  that  morality  forbade  interference  at 
all  where  we  were  not  prepared  to  face  its  legitimate  results. 
He  deemed  such  interference  inexpedient,  because  English 
diplomatic  agents  on  the  Continent  were  not  likely,  in  his 
opinion,  to  be  better  qualified  to  interfere  in  the  domestic 

'  Speech  in  the  House  of  Commons,  June  i,  1829. 


114  LORD  ABERDEEN 

affairs  of  other  states  than  foreign  agents  were  in  our  own  ; 
because  such  interference  was  sure  to  make  England  hated, 
even  by  those  on  whose  behalf  she  intervened,  and  scorned 
by  those  who  saw  that  her  blustering  language,  if  firmly 
met,  was  followed  by  no  serious  action  ;  and  because,  what- 
ever our  sympathies,  it  was  only  for  the  defence  or  further- 
ance of  English  interests  that  it  became  a  duty  to  interfere. 
It  was,  of  course,  easy  to  denounce  Lord  Aberdeen  as  a 
sympathiser  with  despotism,  for  naturally  it  was  against 
despotic  powers  that  the  bravado  of  meddling  was  most 
displayed  ;  that  he  was  not  so,  it  would  be  easy  enough  to 
prove. 

But  however  decidedly  opposed  to  Lord  Palmerston's 
mode  of  conducting  foreign  affairs,  Lord  Aberdeen  had  no 
strong  antagonism  to  the  Government  of  Lord  Melbourne, 
between  many  of  the  members  of  which  and  himself  there 
existed  ties  of  personal  friendship  or  family  connection. 
Nor  was  he  at  all  eager,  either  on  public  or  personal 
grounds,  to  hasten  the  overthrow  of  the  Whig  Government. 

As  I  have  before  observed,  he  found  great  difficulty  in 
being  a  partisan.  He  felt  that  there  was  little  or  no 
essential  difference  between  the  Whig  noblemen  and 
gentlemen  who  were  in  office,  and  the  Tory  noblemen  and 
gentlemen  who  looked  to  succeed  them.  Nor  could  he 
attribute  overwhelming  importance  to  measures  as  to  the 
wisdom  of  which  opinions  might  indeed  differ,  but  which 
were  not  revolutionary,  and  which  would  make  no  vital 
change  in  the  condition  of  the  country.  It  was  conse- 
quently difficult  to  persuade  him  to  remain  in  London 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  session.  On  one  occasion  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  who  looked  more  seriously  at  the  situa- 
tion, had  urged  Lord  Aberdeen  to  postpone  his  departure 
for  Scotland,  on  the  ground  that  there  were  many  important 


THE  DUKES  OPINIONS  II5 

measures  coming  up  from  the  House  of  Commons  to  which 
the  House  of  Lords  must  give  their  attention,  and  on  which 
they  must  decide.  On  Lord  Aberdeen  demurring  to  do 
so,  and  expressing  an  opinion  that,  except  in  very  special 
cases,  the  Lords  should  not  interfere  with  BMls  the  Com- 
mons had  passed,  the  Duke  lost  patience,  and  rejoined  : 

I  think  that  men  must  now  open  their  eyes,  and  see  that  if 
they  don't  act  together,  and  make  an  effort  to  preserve  property 
and  rights  from  further  invasion,  they  must  all  and  each  of  them 
in  his  turn  become  a  sacrifice  to  the  new  principles  and  course 
of  action.  I  wish  the  House  of  Lords,  if  possible,  to  prevent 
the  enactment  of  fresh  mischief  in  this  session  of  Parliament ; 
or  that,  if  such  must  be  enacted,  men's  minds  should  be 
awakened  to  the  contemplation  of  it  through  the  discussion  of 
the  measures  in  contemplation.  Possibly  I  am  wrong.  All 
this  trouble  and  these  efforts  may  be  useless,  nay,  more, 
injurious.  It  may  be  best  to  let  the  country  go  to  the  devil  its 
own  way,  or  according  to  the  guidance  of  the  Government,  the 
Political  Unions,  the  Chartists  !  With  all  my  heart !  Be  it  so ; 
I  will  not  desire  anybody  to  stay  !  I  have  before  stood,  and  I 
can  now  stand,  alone  ;  and,  please  God,  as  long  as  I  have 
strength  and  voice,  they  shall  hear  of  the  mischief  which  they 
have  done  and  are  doing. 

Lord  Aberdeen  did  not  share  these  exaggerated  appre- 
hensions, and  was,  morever,  confident  that  were  the  Whig 
Government  inclined  to  adopt  dangerous  measures,  which 
he  did  not  believe,  the  Conservative  party  was  too  strong 
to  render  any  indulgence  of  such  tendencies  possible.  He 
wrote  to  Madame  de  Lieven  in  1838  that,  on  public  grounds, 

I  and  one  of  my  friends  ^  are  perfectly  satisfied  to  remain 
out  of  office,  fully  possessed  of  the  means  of  preventing  all 
legislative  mischief,  and  able  to  expose  any  weakness  or  miscon- 
duct of  the  Government.  We  can  wait  without  any  sacrifice, 
but  our  eager  friends  are  not  easily  to  be  repressed.  They  do 
not  understand  these  cool  speculations,  and  think  that  nothing 
is  gained  so  long  as  a  Whig  Ministry  is  in  office. 

.  After  the  death  of  Lady  Aberdeen  he  went  little  into 
general  society.     His  appearance  there  was  regarded  with 

»  Peel. 

I  2 


Il6  LORD   ABERDEEN 

respect  and  curiosity,  but  he  was   never  a  familiar  figure 

in  the  eyes  of  the  pubHc,  or  in  London   drawing-rooms. 

Towards  the  end  of  1838  Madame  de  Lieven  had  written 

to  him  that  she  sought  reHef  from   the  contemplation  of 

her  own  sorrows  in  the  bustle  and  interest  of  political  life. 

He  replied  : 

With  your  great  talents  and  acquirements  you  can  never 
be  without  resources  ;  but  in  one  respect  I  confess  that  we 
greatly  differ.  You  look  for  interest  and  amusement  in  the 
agitation  of  the  world  and  the  spectacle  it  affords  ;  now  I 
cannot  express  to  you  my  distaste  for  everything  of  the  kind. 
This  is  not  from  a  tendency  to  become  gloomy  and  morose,  for 
the  contrary  is  the  fact  ;  but  I  have  had  enough  of  the  world, 
and  without  any  extravagance,  would  willingly  have  as  little  to 
do  with  it  as  is  decent. 

The  great  possessions  and  personal  popularity  of  the 
Duke  of  Buccleuch  rendered  him  the  natural  head  of  the 
Scotch  Conservatives.  In  1838  he  was  compelled  by  ill- 
ness to  leave  England  for  a  considerable  time  ;  and  Lord 
Aberdeen  was  urged  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington  to  assume 
the  leadership  and  management  of  the  Conservative  party 
in  Scotland.  Lord  Aberdeen  declined  to  do  so,  alleging 
that  neither  his  habits  nor  his  character  were  suited  to  the 
duties  of  such  a  post,  which  ought  to  be  filled  by  a  man  of 
more  popular  address,  to  whom  general  society  was  less 
distasteful  and  party  politics  more  interesting.  The  Duke 
replied  that  he  had  written  to  Sir  Robert  Peel  to  join  with  him 
in  overcoming  Lord  Aberdeen's  resistance,  and  added: 

I  close  my  answer  to  your  letter  of  the  5th  with  this  observa- 
tion, which  I  beg  you  to  reflect  on.  You  went  to  the  Colonial 
Office  disliking  it  and  its  business,  and  everything  connected 
with  it.  You  see  how  well  you  succeeded  in  it,  and  that  you 
are  now  the  standard  of  our  Colonial  policy,  as  you  were  before 
of  our  foreign  policy.  This  was  done  in  a  few  months.  The 
conclusion  which  I  wish  you  to  draw  is  this,  that  you  have  only 
to  give  your  attention  to  any  subject  or  any  business,  however 
irksome  or  disagreeable  to  you,  to  do  it  better  than  others,  and 
you  will  master  it  as  easily  as  you  did  the  affairs  of  the  Colonial 
Department. 


LORD    HADDO'S   MARRIAGE  11/ 

Lord  Aberdeen  yielded  to  the  solicitations  of  his  two 
friends,  but  it  was  with  reluctance.  Haddo  House  had 
become  as  dear  as  it  was  once  detested.  He  was  always 
impatient  to  get  there  from  London,  and  always  left  it  with 
reluctance  and  regret.  It  was  now  his  home,  and  he  was 
never  so  well  content  as  when  there,  in  the  midst  of  cette 
grande  existence  feodale,  which  so  struck  M.  Guizot  when 
some  years  later  he  visited  Haddo. 

His  elder  sons  were  now  growing  up  to  manhood. 
Lord  Haddo  had  made  a  successful  start  at  Cambridge, 
and  in  his  first  year  at  the  University  gained  some  distinc- 
tion, greatly  to  Lord  Aberdeen's  delight,  who  wrote  to  him 
that  it  had  brought  tears  to  his  eyes,  but  they  were  tears  of 
joy.  Lord  Haddo  did  not,  however,  continue  the  pursuit 
of  academical  honours,  and  was  abroad,  on  a  prolonged 
tour  in  Italy  and  Greece,  when  in  1837  he  attained  the  age 
of  twenty-one.  Lord  Haddo's  majority  was  made  the 
occasion  of  a  great  manifestation,  and  Lord  Aberdeen 
entertained  at  dinner  nearly  a  thousand  of  his  tenants.  In 
1840  Lord  Haddo  married,  and  when  he  brought  home 
his  bride  the  tenants,  who  to  the  number  of  700  or  800 
had  escorted  their  carriage  on  horseback  from  the  Lodge, 
in  their  turn  invited  Lord  Aberdeen  and  the  newly 
married  pair  to  a  dinner  presided  over  by  one  of  their 
own  body.  At  this  dinner  Lord  Aberdeen,  with  Lady 
Haddo  on  his  arm,  walked  past  the  long  rows  at  each 
table  as  though  inspecting  a  regiment,  and  then  in  a  few 
simple  and  very  touching  words  presented  her  to  them  as 
the  wife  of  their  future  landlord,  and  the  successor  of  those 
*  whom  she  might  equal  but  could  not  surpass.'  He  was 
from  the  first  greatly  captivated  with  his  daughter-in- 
law,  and  till  his  death  their  mutual  affection  grew  ever 
closer. 


Il8  LORD   ABERDEEN 

The  first  time  I  ever  saw  him  (writes  Lady  Aberdeen) 
was  at  a  garden-party  given  by  Lady  Mansfield  at  Caen  Wood. 
Somebody  pointed  him  out  to  me,  and  said,  '  You  might  take 
him  for  a  Methodist  parson.'  Certainly  he  was  dressed  in 
black,  and  looked  very  grave  and  sad,  but  somehow  his 
countenance  impressed  me  in  a  remarkable  way,  so  much  so 
that  I  have  still  a  perfectly  distinct  recollection  of  his  appear- 
ance on  that  day.  The  next  occasion  was  at  the  time  of 
Harriet's  marriage,  and  after  that  I  do  not  remember  seeing 
him  again  till  just  before  my  own.  Naturally  I  felt  some 
trepidation  at  meeting  him  then,  but  his  gentle  kindness  and 
the  calm  affectionate  tone  of  the  little  he  said  to  me  helped  to 
reassure  me,  and  when  I  was  told  that  in  answer  to  Made- 
moiselle d'Este's  praises  of  my  younger  sister  he  had  said,  '  I 
like  my  own  best,  however,'  my  surprise  and  gratitude  were 
very  great  :  I  think  I  was  never  really  afraid  of  him  after  that. 
Then  came  our  arrival  at  Haddo,  and  the  words  he  spoke  that 
day.  All  the  time  that  we  were  there  he  seemed  to  take  pains 
to  become  acquainted  with  me  and  to  make  me  feel  that  he 
looked  on  me  as  a  daughter  ;  though  it  was,  of  course,  only 
gradually  that  the  relation  of  father  and  daughter  between  us 
became  as  true  (and  I  do  think  it  did)  as  if  I  had  been  his  own 
child. 

In  1839,  had  Sir  Robert  Peel  succeeded  in  the  attempt 
to  form  a  Government,  Lord  Aberdeen  would  have  re- 
turned to  the  Foreign  Office.  During  the  next  two  years 
his  attention  was  very  largely  engaged  by  the  affairs  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland  ;  but  it  was  in  foreign  affairs  that  he 
was  always  chiefly  interested,  and  to  them  the  greater  part 
of  his  time  was  devoted. 

Unlike  many  of  his  friends,  he  approved  the  policy  ot 
the  Whig  Government  in  regard  to  Egypt  and  Syria.  A 
few  extracts  from  letters  to  Madame  de  Lieven  will  show 
the  views  he  entertained  on  this  subject,  and  the  readiness 
he  felt  to  do  justice  to  his  rival  where  he  believed  him  to 
be  essentially  in  the  right  : 

Aug.  14,  1840. — I  rather  think  that  Lord  Palmerston  will 
be  able  to  make  out  a  good  case  in  justification  of  the  course 
he  has  adopted,  although  I  perceive  that  some  of  my  friends 
are  of  a  different  opinion.  Notwithstanding  all  the  warlike 
demonstrations  which  have  taken  place,  I  cannot  feel  much 


LETTER   TO   PRINCESS    LIEVEN  I  I9 

alarm.  I  have  always  told  you  that  my  reliance  is  on  the 
wisdom  of  the  King.  It  is  impossible  that  he  should  permit 
the  personal  feelings  of  M.  Thiers  or  the  national  vanity  of  his 
people  to  precipitate  him  into  a  position  so  dangerous  to  the 
existence  of  his  dynasty  as  a  war  with  the  great  Powers  of 
Europe,  and  for  no  real  French  objects  or  essential  interests. 
This  is  quite  incredible.  If  the  four  Powers  are  united  they 
have  nothing  to  fear  from  the  ill-humour  of  France  in  a  ques- 
tion of  this  kind,  nor  is  there  any  danger  of  the  French  people 
undertaking  a  crusade  against  all  Europe  in  support  of  such 
a  barbarian  as  the  Pasha  of  Egypt. 

Aug.  31. — I  retain  my  former  opinions,  and  am  persuaded 
that  your  apprehensions  are  unfounded.  It  is  true  that  M. 
Thiers  blusters  mightily,  and  is  very  warlike,  but  unfortunately 
he  can  get  nobody  to  believe  him.  Throughout  Europe  the 
peace  estabHshment  is  everywhere  preserved  ;  and  although  the 
French  were  a  little  sensitive  at  first,  even  they  have  recovered 
their  equilibrium.  All  this  arises  from  the  absurdity  of  sup- 
posing it  possible  that  France  should  go  to  war  against  the 
great  Powers  of  Europe  without  any  shadow  of  a  justifiable 
cause.  .  .  .  You  say  that  the  national  vanity  is  deeply  wounded, 
and  that  all  parties  are  agreed.  You  think,  therefore,  that  the 
King  would  not  be  able,  and  is  not  inclined,  to  control  public 
feeling.  Now  I  still  place  great  confidence  in  the  King.  The 
national  vanity  and  self-love  may  be  excited,  and  the  King  may 
find  it  necessary  to  sail  with  the  current,  but  he  will  know  how 
to  vary  his  course  in  good  time.  He  will  never  expose  the 
safety  of  his  country  and  his  family  in  a  quarrel  so  preposterous. 
....  There  appears  to  be  a  general  notion  that  we  have  been 
guilty  of  some  want  of  respect,  and  that  the  afifair  has  been  mis- 
managed, and  France  needlessly  affronted  ;  but  I  confess  that 
I  have  as  yet  seen  no  evidence  whatever  of  this  being  the 
case. 

Nov.  3. — You  may  easily  believe  with  what  Impatience  we 
wait  to  see  the  proceedings  of  the  Chambers  at  their  meeting 
on  the  5th,  deciding  as  they  will  the  fate  of  this  country  and 
of  the  world  with  respect  to  peace  or  war.  I  confess  that  I 
am  very  sanguine  about  the  pacific  character  of  their  conduct, 
not  that  I  have  any  profound  respect  for  the  wisdom  of  the 
French  Chambers,  but  France  has  really  no  case  at  all  to 
justify  the  burning  of  an  ounce  of  gunpowder.  All  these  war- 
like demonstrations  have  been  regarded  with  astonishment. 
M.  Guizot  is  a  lover  of  peace,  and  although  his  may  think  there 
is  ground  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  French  Government, 
he  knows  perfectly  well  that  there  is  no  hostile  intention  in  the 
Treaty  of  July  15,  nor  anything  which  can  possibly  justify 
extreme  measures.  I  am  sure  that  this  opinion  must  be  shared 
by  the  reflecting  portion  of  the  French  people,  who  must  see  the 


I20  LORD   ABERDEEN 

extreme  danger  of  provoking  war  under  such  circumstances. 
France,  with  a  just  cause,  and  her  real  national  interests  at  stake, 
is  equal  in  power  to  all  Europe  united  ;  but  France,  with  the 
ridiculous  casus  belli  created  by  the  Radical  journals,  would  find 
herself  no  match  for  the  other  Powers. 

Dec.  12. — I  regret  to  see  that  efforts  are  still  made,  and  not 
without  success,  to  persuade  the  French  people  that  they  have 
been  insulted  by  the  four  Powers,  notwithstanding  the  absurdity 
of  such  an  assertion.  I  entirely  agree  with  M.  de  Lamartine, 
that  the  only  insult  offered  to  France  has  been  the  complete 
indifference  of  the  Powers  to  all  her  warlike  preparations,  and 
that  none  of  them  have  increased  their  force,  or  incurred  any 
additional  expense.  But  this  insult  was  in  fact  a  compliment, 
in  so  far  that  it  gave  credit  to  the  French  people  for  sufficient 
common  sense  to  see  the  unreasonable  nature  of  the  course 
adopted. 

But  if  he  approved  of  the  Syrian  expedition,  he  as 
decidedly  censured  the  coldness  with  which,  after  the  fall 
of  M.  Thiers,  the  overtures  of  M.  Guizot  for  a  better  under- 
standing with  England  were  received. 

Lord  Aberdeen  also  disapproved  strongly  of  the 
dissolution  of  1841.  Fully  aware  as  the  ministers  were 
of  the  hopelessness  of  their  appeal  to  the  country,  he 
considered  the  step  hardly  constitutional,  and  decidedly 
unfair  towards  the  Queen,  whose  prerogative  was  thus 
exercised.  Personally  he  was  grateful  for  a  decision  which 
enabled  him  to  spend  the  best  part  of  the  summer  at  Haddo  ; 
and  when,  after  the  elections,  he  left  it  with  the  knowledge 
that  the  fall  of  the  Government  was  inevitable,  and  that  in 
the  course  of  a  few  days  he  would  be  called  on  to  talce  part 
in  the  formation  of  another,  it  was  with  bitter  regret  that  he 
reflected  that  years  might  pass  before  he  would  be  at  home 
again  for  any  lengthened  stay.  Lord  Aberdeen  received  the 
seals  of  the  Foreign  Department  for  the  second  time  on 
September  3,  1841. 


121 


CHAPTER  VI 

SCOTCH    CHURCH   AFFAIRS 

Constitution  of  the  Scottish  Church— The  Veto  Act— Mr.  Whyte' 
Case — Negotiation  with  Church  Leaders — Introduction  of  Lord 
Aberdeen's  Bill — Attitude  of  the  Government  and  of  the  General 
Assembly — Bill  withdrawn— Fresh  Negotiations— Their  Failure  at 
the  moment  of  success — Attitude  of  Parties  in  1842-43 — The  Great 
Secession — Lord  Aberdeen's  Act  adopted. 

The  ignorance  of  even  well-informed  people  in  the 
southern  part  of  Great  Britain  as  to  Scottish  affairs  was,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century,  almost  total,  and  even  half  a 
century  ago  was  surprisingly  great.  Since  that  time  it  has 
probably  diminished,  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  it  is  still 
considerable.  That  a  Presbyterian  Church  is  established 
in  Scotland,  and  that  Scotland  has  preserved  its  own 
system  of  civil  and  criminal  jurisprudence,  are  facts  generally 
known  ;  but  how  the  one  is  governed  and  the  other  ad- 
ministered, or  in  what  relation  they  mutually  stand,  are 
matters  which  most  fairly  well-informed  Englishmen  would 
find  it  difficult  to  explain.  A  few  prefatory  words  are 
therefore  requisite  if  this  chapter  is  to  be  rendered  intelli- 
gible to  the  ordinary  English  reader  :  attractive,  I  fear,  I 
cannot  hope  to  make  it. 

The  deliberative  assemblies  of  the  Church  of  England 
were  reduced  to  silence  and  inaction  early  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  but  the  Church  of  the  sister  kingdom  retained 
unimpaired    in  vigorous  life  and  activity,  the  organisation 


122  LORD   ABERDEEN 

which  gave  it  in  many  respects  practical  independence  of 
the  State.  Every  parish  had  its  Kirk  Session  of  minister 
and  lay  elders,  by  which  the  affairs  of  the  parish  were 
regulated,  and  which  administered  spiritual  discipline  in  the 
way  of  excommunication  and  penance  with  a  vigour  and 
promptitude  which  might  be  envied,  but  could  not  be 
imitated,  by  the  clergy  of  the  southern  part  of  Great  Britain. 
The  Presbytery  of  the  bounds,  consisting  of  all  the 
clergy  of  a  district  of  moderate  size,  conferred  ordination 
and  exercised  other  quasi-Episcopal  functions  ;  while  the 
Synod,  a  body  whose  functions  were  chiefly  deliberative, 
was  composed  of  the  united  Presbyteries  of  a  large  area, 
the  boundaries  of  which,  speaking  roughly,  pretty  nearly 
coincided  with  those  of  the  ancient  dioceses  of  the  Scottish 
Church.  Above  all  these  was  the  General  Assembly, 
composed  of  elected  clerical  and  lay  members  from  every 
Presbytery,  which  met  annually  for  a  few  days  in  the  month 
of  May. 

The  beginning  of  the  present  reign  found  the  Established 
Church  of  Scotland,  which  then  comprised  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  its  population,  divided  by  conflicting  opinions  on 
the  subject  of  the  method  to  be  observed  in  the  admission 
of  ministers  to  parochial  charges.  These  differences  were 
reflected  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church,  in  which 
those  styled  Non-Intrusionists  were  the  stronger  party.  At 
the  accession  of  William  IV.,  seven  years  earlier,  the  law 
of  the  Church  with  regard  to  the  settlement  of  the 
parochial  clergy  stood  as  it  had  stood  unaltered  for  more 
than  a  century.  Under  it,  three  distinct  rights  were  un- 
derstood to  be  recognised  :  that  of  a  patron  to  present 
to  a  living  ;  that  of  any  member  of  the  congregation  to 
object  to  such  presentation  ;  and  that  of  the  Church  Courts 
to    determine   the  validity   of  such   objection.      But   the 


THE   VETO   ACT  1 23 

'  call '  which  the  presentee  was  expected  to  receive  from 
his  future  parishioners  had  become  as  hollow  a  form  as  the 
election  of  a  bishop  by  an  English  chapter  ;  and  the  right 
of  objection  had  practically  fallen  into  such  desuetude  that 
many  doubted  its  existence,  and  maintained  that  it  had 
been  abolished  by  the  Act  of  17 12,  which  restored  the 
right  of  presentation  to  a  single  patron. 

The  Church  of  Scotland,  however,  did  not  escape  the 
influence  of  the  Reform  movement,  and  in  1832  limitations 
on  the  right  of  patronage  were  suggested  in  the  General 
Assembly  ;  but  any  idea  of  thereby  giving  a  veto  on  its 
exercise  to  the  majority  of  the  parishioners  was  expressly 
and  studiously  disclaimed.  But  in  the  following  year 
the  grant  of  such  a  veto  was  proposed  on  the  motion 
of  Dr.  Chalmers,  the  most  eminent  member  of  the 
Assembly,  and  rejected  by  only  a  small  majority  :  in  the 
session  of  1834  it  was  adopted.  This  regulation  of  the 
Assembly,  known  as  the  Veto  Act,  was  regarded  with 
very  different  eyes  by  the  various  sections  of  the  majority 
which  adopted  it.  Some  regarded  it  as  a  mere  measure  of 
expediency ;  by  others  it  was  looked  on  as  the  fulfilment 
of  a  Scriptural  obligation.  Some  considered  it  merely  a 
declaration  and  definition  of  the  existing  law.  Others  ad- 
mitted its  novelty,  but  insisted  on  the  inherent  right  of  the 
Church  to  legislate  with  regard  to  all  that  concerned  the 
induction  of  its  ministers.  Dr.  Chalmers  himself  had  from 
the  first  doubts  as  to  the  legality  of  the  measure,  which  he 
afterwards  on  one  occasion  designated  as  '  a  great  blunder.' 
Lord  Aberdeen,  while  not  free  from  doubts  as  to  the  legality 
of  the  Assembly's  action,  was  disposed  to  think  that  it 
■  might  be  covered  by  an  unrepealed  section  of  the  Scotch 
Act  of  1690  ;  and  that,  at  all  events,  some  right  of  objec- 
tion, cognisable  by  the  Church  Courts,  was  inherent  in  the 


124  LORD   ABERDEEN 

congregation.  So  long  as  the  discussion  was  confined  to 
the  purely  practical  point  of  discovering  the  best  means  of 
effecting  that  which  nearly  all  desired — the  non-intrusion 
on  a  parish  of  a  minister  unacceptable  to  it — the  question 
was  in  the  main  one  of  expediency ;  but  the  intervention 
of  the  Civil  Courts  raised  questions  of  principle  as  to  the 
limits  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authority,  which,  if  fought 
out  to  an  absolute  conclusion,  were  certain  to  rend  the 
Established  Church  asunder,  as  in  the  end  they  did.  Such 
differences  had  existed  from  the  foundation  of  the  Scottish 
establishment,  and  had  been  only  kept  from  mischievous 
action  by  the  most  cautious  handling. 

Some  months  after  the  passage  of  the  Veto  Act,  a  pre- 
sentation made  by  Lord  Kinnoull  having  been  vetoed  by 
the  congregation,  the  patron  and  presentee  appealed  to  the 
Court  of  Session,  and  obtained  from  it  a  decree  which  set 
aside  the  veto  as  ultra  vires.  This  decree  was  confirmed 
on  appeal  (but  not  till  1838),  by  the  unanimous  judgment 
of  the  House  of  Lords.  That  judgment  left  untouched 
the  powers  of  the  Presbytery  as  to  ultimate  rejection, 
but  ruled  that  it  was  bound  to  admit  the  presentee  to 
what  are  styled  his  trials.  The  judgments  then  delivered 
convinced  Lord  Aberdeen  of  the  illegality  of  the  veto, 
but  did  not  destroy  his  inclination  to  legalise  it.  '  I 
certainly  had  some  misgivings,'  he  wrote,  'about  the 
Auchterarder  case ;  but  I  am  now  satisfied  that  the  law 
has  been  correctly  laid  down  and  applied.  Whether  the 
existing  law  can  continue  without  alteration  is  another 
question.' 

While  matters  were  in  this  state  the  practical  working 
of  the  veto  was  unexpectedly  brought  home  to  Lord  Aber- 
deen in  a  forcible  shape  at  his  own  door.  The  Rev.  Ludo- 
vick  Grant,  who  had  been  minister  of  the  parish  of  Methlic 


CASE   OF   MR.   WHYTE  125 

for  more  than  fifty  years,  died  in  the  spring  of  1839,  and  it 
became  Lord  Aberdeen's  duty,  as  patron,  to  nominate  his 
successor.  After  long  and  careful  inquiry  into  the  qualifi- 
cations of  different  candidates,  his  choice  fell  on  Mr.  James 
Whyte,  a  gentleman  of  whose  ability,  activity,  and  successful 
work  he  had  received  most  satisfactory  evidence.  Indeed, 
his  possession  of  these  qualifications  was  not  questioned  ;  but 
a  report  was  circulated  in  the  parish  that  Mr.  Whyte  had, 
at  an  earlier  period  of  his  career,  been  guilty  of  immoral 
conduct.  This  report  induced  a  large  number  of  the 
parishioners  to  protest  against  the  appointment.  Lord 
Aberdeen,  to  quote  his  own  words, 

wrote  immediately  to  the  Presbytery,  and  desired  the  strictest 
inquiry  to  be  made— and  in  the  most  public  manner — with  the 
view  of  satisfying  the  parish.  It  took  place  accordingly  in  the 
Church  of  Methlic,  and  lasted  fifteen  or  sixteen  hours.  The 
result  was  that  the  accusation  was  completely  disproved,  not 
only  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  Presbytery,  but  to  that  of 
the  agent  of  the  accusing  parties,  who  declared  his  constituents 
as  well  as  himself  to  be  perfectly  convinced  of  the  utter  ground- 
lessness of  the  charge. 

Lord  Aberdeen  very  naturally  '  thought  the  affair  was  at 

an  end  ;  but  Scotch  farmers  are  hard  to  convince,  and  slow 

to  abandon  any  impression  they  have  once  formed  ;  and, 

notwithstanding   the   trial   by  the   Presbytery,  the   people 

still  imagined  there  might  be  some  truth  in  the  accusation,' 

and  on  that  ground  continued  to  object.     What  followed 

will  be  best  described  in  Lord  Aberdeen's  own  words,  as 

contained  in  letters  to  the  Dean  of  Faculty  : 

Sept.  5. — I  had  a  meeting  the  other  day  with  about  a  hundred 
of  the  heads  of  families.  They  were  very  civil  and  very  respect- 
ful, but  very  obstinate.  They  declared  over  and  over  again  that 
they  had  no  other  objection  to  the  presentee  than  the  existence 
of  \}i\\sfama^  but  that  such  being  the  case,  and  the  accusation 
"not  disproved  to  their  satisfaction,  he  could  never  be  a  useful 
minister  to  them.  They  had  no  wish  to  interfere  with  my 
patronage,  and  would  be  ready  to  receive  anyone  I  should 
name,  but  for  the  reason  stated  they  could  never  derive  any 


126  LORD  ABERDEEN 

good  from  this  man,  and  must  therefore  object  to  him  In 
the  beUef  that  they  were  sincere,  I  endeavoured  to  argue  the 
matter  with  them  for  about  an  hour,  but  without  much  success. 
I  shall  meet  them  again  the  day  after  to-morrow  for  the  same 
purpose,  although,  I  confess,  without  much  prospect  of  a  better 
result.  I  am  afraid  they  have  got  into  bad  hands.  Their 
former  law-agent  would  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the 
business,  but  I  hear  that  a  radical  attorney  in  Aberdeen  has 
taken  it  up  for  them.  I  am  convinced,  from  their  professions 
towards  me,  that  they  are  animated  by  no  bad  motive,  but 
that  it  is  sheer  stupidity  which  makes  them  persevere,  and  an 
immense  majority  of  the  parish  are  under  this  delusion.  It  is 
altogether  a  strange  business,  and  it  is  rather  comical  that 
it  should  have  happened  to  me— a  kind  of 'eldest  son  of  the 
Church.'  Sept.  9. — I  had  my  meeting  in  the  Parish  Church 
on  Saturday,  and  did  my  utmost  to  convince  the  people  of 
their  error,  and  of  my  own  sentiments  and  opinions.  I  cannot 
yet  say  decisively  what  effect  has  been  produced,  but  it  has 
certainly  been  considerable.  Many  have  already  avowed  a 
change,  and  I  am  inclined  to  hope  the  greater  number  will 
retract.  At  the  same  time  it  is  uphill  work  ;  for  out  of  about 
two  hundred  and  forty  heads  of  families  in  communion  with 
the  church,  upwards  of  two  hundred  had  signed  a  paper  de- 
claratory of  their  intention  to  oppose  my  presentee.  The 
ground  of  opposition  is  confined  exclusively  to  the  fama,  and 
they  have  all  along  been  perfectly  civil  and  respectful  to  me. 
It  is  this  confidence  in  their  personal  feeling  towards  me  that 
has  induced  me  to  venture  on  such  a  step  as  calling  them 
together  in  the  church  and  haranguing  them  on  this  occasion. 
I  have  told  them,  from  an  examination  of  the  evidence,  of  my 
firm  conviction  of  the  innocence  of  Mr.  Whyte,  and  have  given 
this  opinion  as  if  I  had  spoken  from  the  jury-box.  I  believe 
this  will  have  great  weight  with  many  ;  for  they  will  trust  my 
sincerity  and  will  think  that  I  am  better  able  to  judge  than 
they  are  themselves.  They  are  unfortunately  under  the  influ- 
ence of  two  or  three  bad  advisers,  but  I  rather  think  that  I 
shall  prove  too  strong  for  them.  We  shall  very  soon  know 
the  result,  for  we  are  to  have  the  '  call '  the  day  after  to- 
morrow. I  am  very  much  inclined  to  attend  myself  on  the 
occasion  ;  but  after  the  terms  on  which  I  have  always  lived 
with  these  people,  it  would  require  great  philosophy  to  see 
them  oppose  me  before  my  face.  You  shall  hear  when  the 
affair  is  concluded.  Meanwhile  all  this  does  not  tend  to 
recommend  the  veto  to  my  affections.  Sept.  12. — The  veto 
affair  has  ended  prosperously.  I  attended  the  church  to-day, 
and  after  a  very  good  but  very  long  sermon  from  Mr.  Robertson 
of  Ellon,  I  signed  the  call  myself,  and  was  followed  in  so  doing 
by  a  considerable  number.     No  symptom  of  dissent  appeared  ; 


CASE   OF   MR.    WHYTE  1 27 

but  those  who  had  been  most  hostile  to  Mr.  Whyte  either  did 
not  come  to  the  church  or  left  it  without  signing.  My  allocution 
on  Saturday  produced  a  great  effect,  and  I  fairly  confess  that 
I  never  addressed  the  House  of  Lords  with  a  tenth  part  of  the 
interest  which  I  felt  on  that  occasion.  Had  I  failed,  considering 
the  footing  on  which  I  have  always  stood  with  these  people, 
I  really  should  not  have  known  what  to  do  or  what  to  have 
felt.  The  result  is  the  more  satisfactory  as  I  neither  threat- 
ened nor  entreated,  but  adopted  a  grave,  although  a  friendly, 
tone  of  expostulation.  I  have  not  seen  the  letter,  but  I  under- 
stand the  people  of  the  parish  have  written  to  their  radical 
agent  in  Aberdeen,  and  have  given  as  the  reason  for  retracting 
their  mandate  the  feelings  which  they  profess  to  entertain 
towards  myself.  Sept.  ly. — The  issue  of  Mr.  Whyte's  affair 
has  been  highly  satisfactory,  for  I  really  believe,  from  all  I 
hear,  that  even  a  better  feeling  exists  between  the  people  and 
myself  than  ever  prevailed  before.  Certainly  it  required  a 
strong  stimulus  for  me  to  volunteer  an  oration  in  a  church  ! 
Undoubtedly  I  felt  very  strongly  the  injustice  and  cruelty  of 
their  proceedings  against  Mr.  Whyte.  I  told  them  fairly  that 
if  I  had  been  aware  of  the  existence  of  the  fama  I  would  not 
have  appointed  him,  whether  innocent  or  guilty  ;  but  that, 
having  named  him,  and  an  investigation  having  taken  place 
which  had  perfectly  satisfied  me  of  his  innocence,  no  power  on 
earth  should  induce  me  to  abandon  him.  All  this  I  felt,  and 
all  this  was  true  ;  but  I  fear  that  my  self-love  was  also  deeply 
wounded  at  the  notion  that  their  conduct  exhibited  a  deficiency 
of  deference  towards  myself.  It  tended  to  prove  to  me  that  I 
did  not  possess  that  measure  of  their  respect  which  I  had 
flattered  myself  was  the  case.  If  the  truth  must  be  told,  I  very 
much  fear  that  I  was  secretly  even  more  interested  for  myself 
than  for  Mr.  Whyte. 

It  is  satisfactory  to  be  able  to  add  that  Mr.  Whyte 
speedily  gained  the  affection  and  respect  of  his  parishioners, 
with  whom  he  lived  in  unbroken  harmony  for  over  forty 
years,  full  of  good  works,  and  died  universally  regretted  and 
beloved  in  188 1. 

Almost  immediately  after  Mr.  Whyte's  induction,  Dr. 

Chalmers  paid  a  visit  to  Haddo  House.     In  reply  to  an 

inquiry  from  the  Dean  of  Faculty,  Lord  Aberdeen  thus 

wrote  of  this  visit : 

Sept.  17. — You  wish  to  know  the  result  of  Chalmers's  visit 
here,  and  I  can  only  tell  you  that  it  had  no  result  at  all.     We  had 


128  LORD   ABERDEEN 

a  good  deal  of  talk  respecting  Church  matters,  and  especially 
the  veto.  He  appeared  to  admit  that  some  change  was 
required,  or  at  least  that  it  might  be  safely  agreed  to  ;  but  he 
did  not  specify  the  points  which  he  would  concede.  As  far  as 
I  could  understand  him,  I  think  he  seemed  disposed  to  give  to 
the  Presbytery  all  that  he  took  from  the  people.  He  agreed 
that  there  should  be  some  means  of  applying  a  remedy  to 
cases  of  manifest  injustice,  and  admitted  that  the  instance  of 
Mr.  Whyte,  which  I  detailed  to  him,  was  one  in  which  it 
was  desirable  to  have  some  means  of  correction.  He  con- 
fined himself  on  the  whole  to  vague  generalities,  and  was 
therefore  unsatisfactory.  He  was  decidedly  of  opinion  that  a 
legislative  measure  was  indispensable,  but  not  at  all  prepared 
with  its  provisions.  I  spoke  to  him  pretty  much  in  the  same 
strain,  though  less  favourably  of  the  veto  than  formerly,  and 
abstained  from  giving  any  opinion  until  I  should  see  the 
heads  of  the  Bill  which  it  may  be  proposed  to  introduce  into 
Parliament  for  the  purpose  of  settling  these  affairs.  We  there- 
fore adjourned  our  discussion  until  I  should  meet  him  in 
Edinburgh. 

The  case  of  Mr.  Whyte  naturally  made  much  impression 
on  Lord  Aberdeen.  Up  to  this  time,  although  he  had 
*  entertained  great  doubts  respecting  the  veto,'  he  was  by 
no  means  convinced  that  it  was  objectionable  in  principle, 
or  likely  to  be  mischievous  in  practice.  He  was  now 
satisfied  that  '  it  must  be  greatly  modified  before  it  can  be 
made  tolerable. ' 

To  the  popular  election  of  ministers  he  saw  comparatively 
little  objection.  It  was,  however,  then  impracticable  ;  for 
it  was  at  that  time  desired  by  but  very  few,  and  any  measure 
attempting  to  legalise  it  was  certain  to  be  rejected  by  over- 
whelming majorities  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament.  But  to 
the  veto  he  entertained  far  graver  objection.  In  the  first 
place  it  was  enacted  against  lay  patrons  only,  and  did  not 
apply  when  the  patronage  had  fallen  into  clerical  hands. 
Now,  the  mere  act  of  presentation  did  not  save  the  patron's 
rights.  If  the  *  settlement '  of  a  minister  was  not  effected 
in  a  parish  within  six  months,  the  presentation  lapsed  to 
the  Presbytery,  and  against  its  presentation  no  veto  was 


OBJECTIONS  TO   THE  VETO  ACT  1 29 

allowed.  All,  therefore,  that  a  Presbytery,  greedy  of  power, 
had  to  do  was  to  promote  a  veto  which  would  throw  the 
patronage  into  their  hands.  Nor  did  the  Act  provide  any 
of  those  checks  upon  the  exercise  of  a  popular  veto  which 
were  essential  to  prevent  its  acting  in  a  manner  neither  ex- 
pected nor  desired  by  its  authors.  These,  however,  were 
only  incidental  objections,  which  might  be  removed  in  re- 
casting the  measure.  Lord  Aberdeen's  main  objections 
were  of  a  more  insuperable  character,  viz.  that  it  deprived 
the  Presbytery  and  other  Church  Courts  of  rights  properly 
belonging  to  them,  and  that  it  inflicted  a  stigma,  probably 
a  lifelong  one,  on  the  rejected  candidate,  not  inflicted  by 
rejection  at  a  contested  election,  in  which  the  question  to  be 
decided  was  which  was  the  fitter  of  two  men,  while  in  this 
case  it  was  a  question  of  positive  fitness. 

Lord  Aberdeen,  though  he  chose  to  style  himself  a 
Presbyterian,  and  was,  for  the  ten  years  from  1818  to  1828, 
the  lay  representative  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ellon  in  the 
General  Assembly,  cannot  be  said  to  have  personally 
belonged  to  that  communion  ;  for,  while  he  never  in  his  life 
attended  the  administration  of  the  Sacrament  in  a  Scotch 
church,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  receiving  the  Holy  Com- 
munion in  an  English  church  every  year  on  Good  Friday. 
But  he  had  a  very  keen  sense  of  the  social  mischief  wrought 
by  the  difference  of  faith  and  worship  which  subsisted  be- 
tween a  large  number  of  the  Scottish  nobility  and  land- 
owners, and  those  who  dwelt  on  their  estates  ;  while  he  esti- 
mated very  lightly  the  differences,  whether  of  doctrine  or 
discipline,  between  the  Churches  of  England  and  Scot- 
land. He  had,  moreover,  the  highest  admiration  for 
the  work  done  by  the  Scottish  clergy,  and  he  held  it 
to  be  the  duty  of  all  well-wishers  of  the  country  to 
uphold   and    assist   them.      He   was,    therefore,    when   in 

K 


130  LORD  ABERDEEN 

Scotland,  a  constant  attendant  at  the  services  of  the 
Church. 

In  pursuance  of  these  views  he  had  exerted  himself 
strenuously  in  favour  of  the  measures  of  Church  Extension 
which  had  been  proposed,  and  thus  came  into  intimate 
intercourse  with  Dr.  Chalmers,  the  ablest  of  its  advocates. 
He  was,  therefore,  a  person  to  whom  the  Church  naturally 
looked  for  deliverance  from  its  troubles,  and  he  was  in- 
duced to  contemplate  the  idea  of  introducing  a  measure  to 
preclude  the  recurrence  of  disputes  such  as  had  just  taken 
place,  should  the  Government  of  the  day  fail  to  undertake 
that  duty. 

It  is  a  common  error,  which  has  been  much  fostered  by 
Free  Church  publications,  that  lay  patronage  is  in  some 
sort  repugnant  to  the  teaching  of  the  Scottish  Reformers 
and  the  spirit  of  the  Scottish  Church  ;  that  it  was  abolished 
by  the  Scottish  Parliament  in  1690,  and  forced  again  upon 
the  Church  by  the  Act  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  in  1712. 
This  is  a  mistake.  Except  for  a  short  time  during  the 
Commonwealth,  the  practice  of  presentation  to  preferment 
by  patrons  existed  unbroken  from  the  Reformation  until 
patronage  itself  was  abolished  in  1874.  The  Act  of  1690 
did  but  transfer  the  right  of  presentation  from  a  single 
patron  to  the  heritors  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  landed  proprietors 
of  the  parish,  together  with  the  elders  or  churchwardens. 
In  a  large  number  of  cases  the  alteration  in  the  law  can 
have  effected  little  alteration  in  practice,  a  great  proprietor 
being  often  sole  heritor  of  many  parishes,  while  in  all 
cases  their  number  was  very  small  when  compared  with 
that  of  the  congregation,  Or  even  of  the  heads  of  families 
being  communicants,  whose  sole  right,  under  the  Act 
of  1690,  remained  that  of  objection,  which  they  had 
before  possessed.      And  as  to  the  ultimate  admission  or 


LORD  ABERDEEN'S   PROPOSALS  13I 

rejection  of  the  presentee,  the  Presbytery  remained  the 
judges. 

In  1833  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church,  when 
rejecting  the  veto,  adopted  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that 
it  was  competent  for  the  'heads  of  families  in  full  and 
regular  communion  with  the  Church,  to  object  to  the 
settlement  of  a  presentee,  and  for  the  Presbytery,  if  they 
found  the  objections  well  founded,  to  reject  the  presenta- 
tion.' Upon  the  lines  of  this  resolution  already  once 
agreed  to  by  the  General  Assembly,  and  embodying  the 
understanding  of  ages,  Lord  Aberdeen  proposed  to  found 
a  measure  for  restoring  peace  to  the  Church.  He  had  no 
special  affection  for  patronage,  nor  any  strong  desire  to  main- 
tain it ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  its  destruction  seemed  to 
him  uncalled  for,  and  he  knew  its  abolition  to  be  at  that 
time  impossible.  But  he  was  desirous  to  give  new  life  to  the 
powers  of  objection  and  rejection  which  he  believed  to  be 
recognised  by  the  existing  law. 

Early  in  January  1840,  on  his  way  to  London,  Lord 
Aberdeen  conferred  with  Dr.  Chalmers  and  the  Non- 
Intrusion  Committee  at  Edinburgh.  Lord  Aberdeen 
thus  described  this  conference  : 

I  took  an  early  opportunity  of  declaring  my  assent  to  the 
principle  of  non-intrusion,  and  I  ventured  to  suggest  a  mode  by 
which  it  might  be  carried  into  full  effect,  and  which,  it  appeared 
to  me,  that  the  Legislature  might  sanction.  This  suggestion 
was  in  substance  as  follows  :  that  the  Presbytery  shall  be 
bound  to  take  a  qualified  presentee  on  trial ;  and  in  the  course 
of  the  proceedings  previous  to  ordination,  the  objections  of  the 
parishioners,  if  any,  shall  be  received,  and  duly  weighed  by  the 
Presbytery  ;  such  objections  in  every  case  to  be  accompanied 
with  reasons  assigned  ;  but  the  Presbytery  to  be  at  liberty  to 
consider  the  whole  circumstances  of  the  case  before  them,  and 
to  form  their  judgment  without  reference  to  the  actual  number 
of  persons  dissenting,  or  their  proportion  to  the  whole  amount 
of  communicants  and  heads  of  families  in  the  parish — the 
decision  of  the  Presbytery  with  respect  to  the  fitness  of  any 
individual  for  the  charge  to  which  he  is  presented  to  be  founded 

K  2 


132  LORD   ABERDEEN 

on  such  full  and  mature  consideration,  and  to  be  pronounced  on 
their  own  responsibility,  and  according  to  the  dictates  of  their 
hearts  and  consciences  ;  in  a  word,  and  to  adopt  the  expression 
of  Dr.  Chalmers,  it  was  proposed  to  recognise  a  presbyterial 
veto  instead  of  the  popular  veto,  which  it  had  been  attempted 
to  establish  by  the  Act  of  the  General  Assembly.  .  .  . 

The  whole  discussion  proceeded  on  the  understanding  of 
the  abrogation  of  the  veto  ;  and  more  than  once  I  expressed 
an  anxiety  effectually  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  an  attempt 
to  re-enact  it  under  some  different  form.  You  may  also,  per- 
haps, recollect  my  declaration  that  I  should  prefer  the  popular 
election  of  ministers  to  the  establishment  of  the  veto.  .  .  I  left 
the  meeting  highly  gratified  by  the  conciliatory  spirit  which  had 
been  evinced  by  the  Committee,  and  strongly  impressed  with 
the  conviction  that  they  had  given  the  most  favourable  reception 
to  the  suggestions  which  had  been  offered  for  their  considera- 
tion. 

There  was  a  party  in  the  Non-Intrusion  Committee  which 
this  arrangement  did  not  satisfy  ;  but  Dr.  Chalmers  and  the 
Committee  generally  agreed,  that  reasons  should  in  all  cases 
of  dissent  be  assigned,  and  that  if  a  liberum  arbitrium  were 
granted  to  the  Presbytery  it  would  be  sufficient.  This 
liberum  arbitrium^  however,  the  more  violent  party  sought 
practically  to  limit,  by  making  it  imperative  for  the  Presby- 
tery to  reject,  if  a  majority  of  the  parishioners,  even  with- 
out reasons,  dissented  from  the  presentation.  This  was 
the  real  and  somewhat  narrow  point  of  difference.  Lord 
Aberdeen  was  willing  to  permit  the  Presbytery,  if  it  thought 
fit,  to  reject  on  the  ground  of  unsuitableness  due  to  in- 
acceptability.  The  Committee  desired,  covertly  or  openly, 
to  enact  that  it  must  do  so.  Dr.  Chalmers,  however,  was 
very  decided  in  his  opinion  that  the  free  judgment  of  the 
Presbytery,  '  though  not  all  that  the  Church  might  wish, 
would  be,  and  ought  to  be,  accepted  as  sufficient.'  During 
the  spring  Lord  Aberdeen  occupied  himself  in  correspond- 
ence with  Dr.  Chalmers,  and  in  giving  shape  to  his  measure. 
After  fully  considering  several  alternative  schemes,  some  of 
which  he  rejected  as  undesirable  and  others  as  impracti- 


LORD  ABERDEEN'S   BILL  1 33 

cable,  he  prepared  a  Bill  which  recognised  the  right  of  any 
communicant  to  make  objections  of  any  kind  to  the  in- 
dividual presented,  or  assign  any  reason  against  his  settle- 
ment, or  against  his  gifts  and  qualifications  for  the  cure  of 
the  particular  parish  to  which  he  was  presented ;  and  the 
right  of  the  Presbytery,  '  if  it  or  other  Church  Court 
shall  be  of  opinion,  due  regard  being  had  to  the  whole 
circumstances  and  condition  of  the  parish,  and  to  the 
spiritual  welfare  and  edification  of  the  people,  that  in 
respect  of  any  of  the  said  objections  or  reasons  the 
individual  presented  ought  not  to  be  settled  in  the  said 
parish,'  to  reject  him.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  while 
under  this  Bill  the  mere  fact  of  unacceptability  to  a 
majority  of  the  parishioners  would  not  be  regarded  as 
a  valid  objection,  the  allegation  that  the  disfavour  with  which 
the  presentee  was  regarded  was  such  as  to  destroy  his 
chance  of  future  usefulness  was  one  which  might  be  urged, 
and  to  which  the  Presbytery,  if  it  saw  fit,  might  give  effect. 
This,  though  giving  to  the  Presbytery  the  free  judgment 
for  which  Dr.  Chalmers  contended,  did  not,  of  course, 
satisfy  those  who,  under  cover  of  the  words  liberum  arbitrium^ 
meant,  in  the  event  of  the  dissent  of  a  majority,  to  take  away 
all  freedom  from  the  Presbytery,  and  compel  it,  through  a 
direction  of  the  Assembly,  to  give  effect  without  discretion 
to  the  objections  of  the  congregation. 

Before  bringing  in  the  Bill,  Lord  Aberdeen  showed  it  to 
Messrs.  Hamilton  and  Buchanan,  who  had  been  sent  up  by 
the  Assembly  to  confer  with  him.  They  proposed  certain 
amendments  which  they  said  were  not  inconsistent  with 
the  principle  of  the  Bill,  and  which  Lord  Aberdeen  was  not 
unwilling  to  adopt.  Had  he  done  so,  the  question  would 
probably,  for  the  time  at  least,  have  been  settled,  and  the 
Disruption,  if  not  averted,  at  all  events  reduced  to  very 


134  LORD   ABERDEEN 

small  proportions.  Unfortunately,  as  I  cannot  but  think, 
the  Dean  of  Faculty  was  at  the  time  in  England,  whither 
he  had  come  to  place  his  sons  at  school  at  Hatfield,  and 
was  within  reach  of  the  Priory,  where  Lord  Aberdeen  then 
was.  He  denounced  the  amendments,  partly  as  carrying 
out  covertly  the  popular  veto,  and  partly  as  compromising 
Lord  Aberdeen's  position  of  independence.  Thoroughly 
self-confident,  and  possessing  that  influence  which  a  strong 
narrow  mind  of  a  positive,  overbearing  type  often  exerts 
over  a  mind  of  much  higher  quality,  in  which  self-distrust 
and  humility  are  leading  characteristics,  the  Dean  succeeded 
in  persuading  Lord  Aberdeen  to  defer  to  his  advice. 
Several  of  the  amendments  suggested  were  adopted,  but 
the  most  important  clauses  in  the  Bill  were  allowed  to  re- 
main unchanged.  Lord  Aberdeen  was  the  more  inclined 
to  follow  this  course  because  he  felt  that  his  Bill  already 
gave  all  that  the  objectors  professed  to  ask  in  the  amend- 
ments they  proposed.  On  May  5  he  read  his  Bill  a  first 
time  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

The  leading  Scotch  peers  present  heartily  supported 
the  Bill,  and  Lord  Melbourne,  then  Prime  Minister,  said  a 
few  compHmentary  words,  but  would  not  commit  himself 
either  to  support  or  oppose  it.  But  he  showed  his  inability 
to  realise  the  gravity  of  the  position  by  saying  that  '  the  oc- 
casion which  had  arisen  was  not  by  any  means  so  grave  and 
serious '  as  Lord  Aberdeen's  speech  was  calculated  to  make 
the  House  suppose,  and  that  '  the  exigency  was  in  no  re- 
spect so  pressing  as  it  had  been  represented.'  On  returning 
from  the  House  of  Lords,  Lord  Aberdeen  at  once  wrote  to 
Dr.  Chalmers.     He  concluded  his  letter  as  follows  : 

I  believe  that  the  peace  of  the  Church  is  at  this  moment  in 
your  hands  ;  for,  although,  from  the  accident  of  birth  and 
social  position,  I  have  had  the  means  of  proposing  this  measure 


DR.  CHALMERS  I  35 

to  the  Legislature,  it  will  depend  on  you  whether  it  is  to  receive 
life  and  efficacy. 

I  pray  that  you  may  be  led  by  the  spirit  of  wisdom  ;  and 
that  your  great  talents  may  be  directed  to  the  restoration  of 
peace  and  order,  and  to  the  happy  union  of  all  the  real  friends 
of  the  Church. 

*  Semper  honos  nomenqne  tmi>7i,  lavdesqne  manebunt.^ 

The  genius  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  his  piety  and  eloquence, 
and  the  noble  disinterestedness  displayed  by  the  ministers 
whose  secession  from  the  Established  Church  he  headed 
rather  than  led,  have  thrown  a  veil  over  the  weaknesses  of 
a  singularly  complex  character.  He  now  found  himself  in  a 
position  of  considerable  difficulty.  Without  any  intention 
to  deceive,  he  had  used  language  to  Lord  Aberdeen  on  the 
one  hand,  and  to  the  more  extreme  members  of  the  Non- 
Intrusion  Committee  on  the  other,  which  gave  to  each  a 
right  to  claim  his  support.  He  could  not  deny  that  he 
had  given  Lord  Aberdeen  to  understand  that  he  was  pre- 
pared to  repeal  the  Veto  Act,  to  require  the  assignment  of 
reasons  in  all  cases  of  objection  to  a  presentation  on  the 
part  of  the  people,  and  to  substitute  a  presbyterial  for  a 
popular  veto.  But  he  allowed  the  Non-Intrusion  Com- 
mittee to  believe  that  in  so  doing  he  would  insist  that  the 
action  of  the  Presbytery  should  be  subject  to  the  directions 
of  the  General  Assembly,  or,  in  other  words,  to  the  Veto  Act 
itself,  which,  though  admitted  to  be  illegal  as  an  enactment, 
might,  being  unrepealed,  retain  force  as  an  ecclesiastical 
Regulation,  with  the  provisions  of  which  the  clergy,  under 
pain  of  spiritual  censures,  would  be  still  bound  to  comply. 
Dr.  Chalmers  had  up  to  this  time  been  the  advocate  of 
conciliation,  and  as  such  had  often  found  himself  in  a 
minority  on  the  Non-Intrusion  Committee.  It  cannot  be 
questioned,  that  he  thought  a  settlement  might  be  arrived  at 
on  the  principles  which  Lord  Aberdeen  had  announced  as 


136  LORD   ABERDEEN 

those  of  his  measure.  But  after  some  days'  discussion  with 
the  more  violent  members  of  the  Committee,  in  which  (if 
Lord  Aberdeen  was  not  misinformed)  Dr.  Chalmers  sought 
to  secure,  if  not  approval  of  the  proposed  measure,  at  least 
acquiescence  in  it,  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish  the  hope 
of  effecting  such  an  agreement.  He  had  then  to  decide 
between  severance  from  a  large  section  of  his  party  and 
hostility  to  Lord  Aberdeen's  Bill.  His  choice  was  soon  sub- 
stantially made  ;  but  he  hoped  still  to  delay,  if  not  avert,  an 
open  rupture.  The  Bill,  he  said,  limited  the  free  judgment 
of  the  Presbytery  in  a  manner  which  Lord  Aberdeen  had 
not  led  him  to  expect,  and  he  was  therefore  unable  to  sup- 
port it  in  its  present  shape.  But  he  held  out  the  expectation 
that,  with  some  modification,  the  Bill  might  still  be  the 
basis  of  settlement.  He  thus  hoped,  on  the  one  hand,  to 
satisfy  those  who  opposed  the  Bill,  and  on  the  other  to  con- 
tinue negotiations  with  Lord  Aberdeen  as  to  the  modification 
of  his  measure.  The  main  principles  of  that  Bill  were,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  recognition  of  the  right  of  a  presbytery 
to  reject  an  unsuitable  presentee,  and,  on  the  other,  the 
prohibition  of  a  popular  veto  unaccompanied  by  reasons. 
These  two  points  had  from  the  first  been  clearly  laid  down 
in  all  Lord  Aberdeen's  letters  ;  one,  the  presbyterial  veto,  was 
Dr.  Chalmers's  own  suggestion,  and  the  other  had  been  un- 
equivocally accepted  by  him.  But  if  these  principles  were 
mutually  accepted,  the  details  of  the  Bill  became  matter 
to  be  dealt  with  by  the  suggestion  of  amendments  to  be 
introduced  into  it  when  in  Committee.  It  was  too  late  at 
that  period  to  take  exception  to  what  Lord  Aberdeen  had 
from  the  first  stated  to  be  the  basis  of  his  measure.  If  the 
objection  to  what  he  proposed  was  fundamental,  it  should 
have  been  stated  to  be  so  at  the  outset,  and  Lord  Aberdeen 
should  not  have  been  encouraged  to  undertake  a  task  from 


DOUBTFUL   ATTITUDE   OF   DR.  CHALMERS      1 37 

which  no  useful  result  could  be  anticipated.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  objection  was  one  of  detail,  however  earnestly 
it  might  be  pressed,  it  should  not  have  been  made  the 
ground  of  rejecting  the  measure  as  a  whole.  All  this  Dr. 
Chalmers,  it  may  be  presumed,  felt,  and  he  was  consequently 
disposed  to  adopt  a  temporising  course,  intermediate  be- 
tween adoption  and  rejection  of  the  Bill.  But  this  by  no 
means  satisfied  the  more  extreme  Non-Intrusionists,  who 
daily  crossed  the  Forth  to  confer  with  Dr.  Chalmers  at 
Burntisland,  where  he  was  then  living.  Violent  discussions, 
it  is  said — in  which  complaints  of  Dr.  Chalmers's  so-styled 
secret  communications  with  Lord  Aberdeen,  and  even 
threats  founded  on  some  equivocal  propositions  in  his 
lectures,  are  stated  to  have  been  freely  uttered — took  place 
in  his  presence.  Of  these  discussions  the  result  was  that 
he,  greatly  embarrassed,  absented  himself  altogether  from 
the  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Lothian,  at  which  the  re- 
ception to  be  given  to  Lord  Aberdeen's  Bill  was  to  form 
the  chief  subject  of  discussion.  His  absence  left  the  more 
violent  party  free  from  all  check  or  control,  and  when 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  warm  supporters  of  Lord 
Aberdeen's  Bill,  they  condemned  that  Bill  and  its  author  in 
the  most  extravagant  terms. 

The  meeting  was  thus  described  in  a  letter  from  Dr. 
Muir  to  the  Dean  of  Faculty  : 

Language  the  most  violent,  vituperation  quite  exorbitant, 
passion  inflated  beyond  conception,  characterised  the  opponents 
of  the  Bill.  That  the  Bill  '  deposed  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
from  His  mediatorial  throne '  ;  that  the  Bill  is  fraught  with 
elements  calculated  to  destroy  the  Established  Church,  were 
some  among  the  mild  epithets  by  which  Lord  Aberdeen's 
measure  was  characterised.  Dr.  Chalmers  was  not  present. 
My  opinion  is  that  he  has  been  awaiting  the  result.  His  son- 
in-law,  Mr.  Hanna,  was  there,  and  though  he  some  time  ago 
indicated  an  intention  to  coincide  with  Mr.  Tait,  Mr.  Hunter, 
and  myself,  he  started  off  to  the  side  of  Mr.  Cunninghame, 


13^  LORD  ABERDEEN 

This  I  deem  a  decided  indication  of  what  Dr.  Chalmers  is  to 
do.  He  sails  with  the  tide— sixty  to  twenty  !— that  he  can 
never  resist.  I  predict,  therefore,  that  he  is  now  primed  for 
the  Assembly. 

On  receiving  this  intelligence,  Lord  Aberdeen  addressed 
Dr.  Chalmers  in  tones  of  grave  remonstrance,  as  follows  : 

.  .  .  It  is  right  you  should  know  that  the  only  intimation  of 
any  objection  or  opposition  in  Parliament  to  the  Bill  has  arisen 
exclusively  from  the  opinion  that  I  have  recognised  too  great  a 
discretionary  power  in  the  Church  Courts — a  power  which, 
whatever  may  have  been  their  pretensions,  is  held,  and  by  high 
authority,  to  be  unwarranted. 

Notwithstanding  the  opinions  entertained  in  Parliament  on 
this  subject,  I  feel  confident  of  being  able  to  carry  the  Bill 
through  both  Houses  in  its  present  form,  provided  it  is  acqui- 
esced in  by  the  Assembly  ;  and  that,  too,  without  any  pro- 
ceeding by  the  Assembly  on  the  subject  of  the  Veto  Act.  It 
seems  clear,  from  the  speeches  in  the  Synod  to  which  I  have 
alluded,  that  no  repeal  of  the  veto,  by  a  declaration  of  the  in- 
competency of  the  Assembly,  is  to  be  expected  ;  but  I  think 
that  Parliament  would  be  disposed  to  regard  the  Act  as  a 
nullity,  and  as  possessing  no  force  or  validity  against  the  law 
of  the  land. 

The  result,  therefore,  is  now  in  your  hands.  It  is  for  you 
to  consider,  with  the  admitted  necessity  of  legislative  interfer- 
ence, and  with  the  certainty  that  no  measure  will  be  sanctioned 
by  Parliament  more  favourable  to  the  Church  than  that  which 
I  have  now  proposed— whether  you  will  prolong  a  state  of 
things  pregnant  with  danger  to  the  Establishment,  and  which 
I  am  persuaded  may  but  too  probably  lead  to  its  destruction. 
I  would  venture,  with  as  much  solemnity  as  it  is  befitting  me 
to  assume,  to  point  out  the  heavy  responsibility  of  following 
such  a  course. 

Dr.  Chalmers  replied  that  he  had  not  been  at  the  Synod, 
and  should  have  a  different  motion  to  bring  before  the 
Assembly  ;  that  he  was  much  comforted  and  relieved  by  the 
contents  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  letters,  and  hoped  shortly  to  be 
able  to  announce  such  a  common  understanding  as  would 
lead  the  Church,  if  not  positively  to  approve  of  the  Bill  as 
absolutely  the  most  desirable,  at  least  to  acquiesce  in  it  as  a 
good  working  measure. 


OPPOSITION   OF  DR.  CHALMERS  1 39 

The  Assembly  met  on  May  22  nd.  On  that  day  Dr. 
Chalmers  wrote  to  Lord  Aberdeen  as  follows  : 

I  beg  your  attention  to  my  brief  allusion  to  your  lordship's 
Bill.  I  meant  it  as  preparatory  to  the  expression  afterwards  of 
my  wish,  that  it  should  be  made  the  basis  of  a  negotiation  with 
your  lordship.  .  .  . 

I  expect  to  send  you  from  time  to  time  brief  notices  of  what 
is  going  on. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  up  to  this  time  Dr.  Chalmers 
was  anxious  not  to  shut  the  door  upon  negotiation,  and 
that  he  still  hoped  to  make  Lord  Aberdeen's  Bill  the  basis 
for  an  understanding  which  his  own  party  might  be  brought 
to  accept.  But  he  could  not  control  his  own  friends,  and 
it  was  made  manifest  to  him  that  he  could  not  retain  his 
position  as  their  leader  without  adopting  the  course  prescribed 
by  them. 

Within  twenty-four  hours  after  the  above  letter  was 
written,  Dr.  Chalmers  addressed  a  few  cold  lines  to  Lord 
Aberdeen  expressing  regret  that  his  recent  communications 
did  not  warrant  the  hopes  which  he  had  founded  on  all 
their  previous  correspondence  ;  nor,  although  Lord  Aber- 
deen gave  him  an  opportunity  of  doing  so,  did  he  ever 
again,  orally  or  by  letter,  communicate  with  Lord  Aberdeen, 
on  whom  he  was  induced  to  make  a  personal  attack 
accusing  him  of  having  misled  and  deceived  the  Church. 
He  himself  moved  the  resolution  condemning  the  Bill.  His 
now  decided  opposition  rendered  approval  of  the  measure  by 
the  Assembly  hopeless.  But  its  rejection  by  that  body  was 
rendered  more  decisive  by  certain  well-meant  but  ill-judged 
negotiations  undertaken  by  Sir  George  Clerk,  from  which 
the  dominant  party  in  the  Assembly  drew  the  not  unnatural 
conclusion,  that,  if  Lord  Aberdeen's  Bill  were  rejected,  a 
measure  more  in  harmony  with  their  own  wishes  would  be 
introduced  into  Parliament.  Dr.  Chalmers's  motion  was 
,  carried  by  a  majority  of  87. 


I40  LORD   ABERDEEN 

The  Assembly  sat  a  few  days  longer,  during  which  the 

excitement  of  its  members  only  increased. 

I  remained  to  the  close  of  the  Assembly  (wrote  Mr.  Pringle 
on  June  2nd)  at  four  o'clock  this  morning,  by  which  I  was  the 
better  enabled  to  form  an  estimate  of  their  temper  and  fanati- 
cism than  was  indicated  in  any  previous  part  of  their  proceed- 
ings. If  it  had  not  been  for  the  impossibility  to  call  the  roll 
at  that  hour  for  a  division,  I  do  believe  that  they  would  have 
carried  by  acclamation  any  resolution  of  any  kind,  however  wild, 
which  Dunlop  might  have  cared  to  move,  however  irregularly. 

A  certain  degree  of  misgiving,  however,  appeared  to 
come  over  the  Non-Intrusion  party  when  the  Assembly 
had  risen,  and  they  more  calmly  considered  what  had  been 
done,  and  the  terms  of  settlement  they  had  rejected.  The 
first  act  of  the  newly  appointed  Non-Intrusion  Committee 
was  to  dismiss  their  secretaries,  Messrs.  Candlish  and  Dunlop, 
on  account  of  their  violence,  and  to  express  a  wish  to  reopen 
negotiation  with  Lord  Aberdeen  ;  while  Dr.  Chalmers,  who 
had  retired  both  from  the  Non-Intrusion  Committee  and 
from  the  General  Assembly  itself,  put  forth  a  pamphlet 
in  which  he  emphatically  declared  that  '  the  first  thing '  the 
Church  ought  to  do  was  to  repeal  the  Veto  Law,  which 
had  been  not  only  declared  illegal,  but  which  it  was  clear 
the  Legislature  would  not  adopt.  Had  this  advice  been 
taken,  a  peaceful  settlement  of  the  question  would,  without 
doubt,  have  been  effected  ;  but  it  was  treated  with  derision 
by  the  more  active  members  of  the  party  of  which  Dr. 
Chalmers  was  made  to  feel  that  he  was  no  longer  the  true 
leader,  and  of  which  he  could  only  preserve  the  titular 
headship  at  the  price  of  compliance  with  all  the  dictates 
of  its  real  managers.  This  interval  of  moderation  was, 
however,  but  of  short  duration.  The  violent  party  shortly 
recovered  its  complete  ascendency,  and  those  members  of 
the  Committee  who  were  favourable  to  Lord  Aberdeen's 
Bill  were  forced  to  quit  it. 


SECOND  READING  OF   THE   BILL  141 

Rejected  by  the  Assembly,  unsupported  by  the  Govern- 
ment, and  denounced  by  the  Law  Lords  as  containing 
dangerous  concessions  to  the  Church,  it  was  clear  that  Lord 
Aberdeen's  Bill  had  little  prospect  of  becoming  law.  On 
the  strong  advice  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  however,  he  deter- 
mined to  proceed  with  the  measure,  and  the  Bill  was  ac- 
cordingly read  a  second  time  on  June  i6th. 

Lord  Melbourne's  own  opinion  was  favourable  to  Lord 
Aberdeen's  Bill ;  but,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Chancellor  and 
others  in  the  Cabinet  were  hotly  opposed  to  what  seemed 
to  them  the  grant  of  undue  privileges  to  the  Church,  and  on 
the  other,  the  Lord  Advocate  and  party  managers  in  Scotland 
were  urgent  that  for  political  reasons  he  should  not  offend 
the  extreme  Non-Intrusionist  party,  who  were  to  a  great 
extent  supporters  of  the  existing  Government.  In  these  cir- 
cumstances Lord  Melbourne  found  an  admirable  excuse  for 
indulging  his  own  constitutional  disposition  to  '  let  things 
alone.'     His  speech  was  a  curiosity  of  cautious  hedging. 

He  would  not  (he  said)  enter  upon  the  whole  question,  but 
would  only  say  that  it  was  not  so  certain  that  the  Bill  would 
decide  the  question  as  to  make  it  prudent  to  proceed  with  it. 
He  gave  no  opinion  upon  the  Bill.  He  did  not  wish  to  say 
whether  it  was  or  was  not  now  the  law  of  Scotland,  as  had 
been  contended,  but  he  meant  to  say  that  it  was  not  so  certain 
to  be  of  avail  and  advantage  as  to  make  it  prudent  for  their 
lordships  to  proceed.  He  did  not  mean  to  say  that  a  Bill 
framed  in  that  spirit  might  not  be  suited  to  the  occasion,  but 
he  thought  the  House  ought  not  to  proceed  at  present  with 
the  measure,  seeing  that  a  measure  exactly  similar  might  be 
brought  forward  on  any  occasion  when  time  and  further  ex- 
perience should  have  shown  that  it  would  be  likely  to  be 
beneficial. 

This  remarkably  lukewarm  opposition  from  the  Premier 
did  not  prevent  the  Bill  being  read  a  second  time  by  a  large 
majority. 

It  now  seemed  not  improbable  that,  after  all,  the  Bill 
would  become  law.     On  June  22nd  Lord  Aberdeen  wrote  : 


142  LORD   ABERDEEN 

I  met  Melbourne  accidentally  to-day  in  the  Park,  and  walked 
with  him  for  some  time.  .  .  .  He  evidently  himself  would  not 
object  to  the  Bill  going  on,  and  even  said  it  was  not  too  late  to 
withdraw  opposition  ;  but  I  am  persuaded  that  he  will  not 
venture  to  do  anything  of  the  kind. 

And  a  few  days  later  he  continues  : 

I  have  been  with  Lord  John  this  morning,  and  have  fully 
explained  to  him  my  situation  and  intentions.  He  is  not  un- 
willing to  let  the  Bill  pass  through  the  House  of  Commons, 
but  he  is  greatly  afraid  of  his  friends.  Were  it  not  for  the 
Advocate  and  Fox  Maule  there  would  be  no  difficulty  at  all 
about  the  matter.  But  personally  compromised  as  they  are, 
they  cannot  give  way  ;  and  it  is  scarcely  possible  for  the 
Government  to  take  it  upon  themselves  to  neglect  the  remon- 
strances of  their  own  officers.  Lord  John  promised  to  speak  to 
Melbourne  ;  and  he  would  endeavour  with  him  to  see  if  they 
could  not  contrive  not  to  oppose  the  Bill.  He  is  to  let  me  know 
in  two  or  three  days  what  is  the  result. 

This  result  was  an  overture  to  withdraw  opposition  to 
the  Bill  if  Lord  Aberdeen  would  consent  to  restrict  to  a 
majority  the  right  to  object  given  by  it  to  any  parishioner. 
As  this  alteration  would  have  only  made  the  Bill  more 
distasteful  to  the  Church,  and  deprived  individual  parish- 
ioners of  a  right  which  Lord  Aberdeen  believed  them 
already  to  enjoy,  and  which  he  thought  they  ought  to 
enjoy,  he  was,  of  course,  unable  to  assent  to  this  proposal, 
and  after  passing  the  Bill  through  Committee  he  decided 
to  withdraw  it. 

Lord  Aberdeen  felt  very  deeply  the  treatment  he  had 
received  at  the  hands  of  the  Church  leaders.  He  had,  as  he 
himself  said,  a  '  habit  of  believing  people,'  and  he  had  ac- 
cepted without  reserve  their  expressions  of  a  readiness  to 
accept  any  substitute  for  the  veto  which  would  secure  the 
rejection  of  an  unfit  presentee.  He  now  could  not  but 
believe  that  some  of  them  had  all  along  entertained  fixed 
objects  which  they  had  not  avowed,  with  which  they  knew 
he  had  no  sympathy,  but  for  which  they  hoped  to  engage 


CLAIMS  OF  THE  CHURCH  143 

his  support  without  his  own  knowledge.  To  Dr.  Chalmers 
himself  he  only  attributed  the  weakness  of  having  allowed 
himself  to  be  driven  from  the  position  he  wished  to 
assume  through  fear  of  offending  those  with  whom  he 
acted.  To  attribute  any  other  course  to  Dr.  Chalmers, 
and  to  claim  for  him,  as  his  biographer  and  the  writers  of 
the  Free  Church  have  done,  the  credit  of  unswerving 
insistence  on  the  popular  veto,  is  to  accuse  him  of  far 
worse  than  weakness.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  case 
with  others,  it  is  impossible  that  Dr.  Chalmers  can  have 
had  any  doubt  as  to  Lord  Aberdeen's  meaning,  explicitly 
declared  and  frequently  repeated.  If  the  exclusion  of  an 
absolute  veto  by  the  people  were  an  insuperable  bar  to 
the  acceptance  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  Bill,  honesty  required 
that  he  should  have  been  at  once  told  so  ;  and  if  the 
fundamental  principle  of  the  Bill  was  erroneous,  such  a 
note  as  that  of  May  22  from  Dr.  Chalmers  should  not  have 
been  written. 

Up  to  this  time,  although  the  questions  of  principle 
underlying  it  had  not  been  left  out  of  view,  the  practical 
question  of  the  best  mode  of  securing  the  non-intrusion 
of  unfit  ministers  was  that  which  had  most  occupied  the 
public  mind,  and  to  which  most  prominence  had  been 
given.  But  a  much  graver  question,  which  threw  that  of 
Non-Intrusion  comparatively  into  the  shade,  was  now  daily 
assuming  increased  prominence.  The  claim  to  independ- 
ence put  forward  on  the  part  of  the  Church  is  one  not 
easily  made  intelligible  to  English  ears,  nor  is  it  indeed 
compatible  with  the  fundamental  idea  of  an  Established 
Church,  as  those  who  raised  it  in  the  end  acknowledged. 
•Nor  is  it  even  compatible  with  the  ordinary  obligations  of 
civil  society.  Even  in  a  Church  wholly  unconnected  with 
the  State,  it  is  perfectly  competent  to  any  individual  to 


144  LORD  ABERDEEN 

appeal  to  the  Courts  of  Law  to  decide  whether  an  exercise 
of  authority  by  which  he  has  been  deprived  of  any  civil 
right  is  such  as  those  exercising  it  are  justified  in  having 
resort  to  by  the  terms  of  the  compact  on  which  they  rely. 

The  principle  that  the  interpretation  of  Statute  Law 
must  rest  with  the  Courts  of  Law,  and  that  their  inter- 
pretation must  be  obeyed,  and,  if  need  be,  enforced,  rises 
in  the  South  (or  until  lately  rose)  to  the  position  of  an 
axiom  ;  but  in  Scotland  a  large  following  was  prepared 
to  adopt  with  acclamation  the  proposition  that  the  Courts 
of  Law  had  no  sort  of  jurisdiction  over  any  question  which 
the  General  Assembly  had  declared  within  the  competence 
of  the  Ecclesiastical  Courts,  and  that  '  all  Acts  of  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  passed  without  consent  of  the 
Church  and  nation,  in  alteration  of  or  derogative  to  the 
government,  discipline,  rights  and  privileges  of  the  Church, 
and  also  all  sentences  of  Courts  in  contravention  of  the 
said  government,  discipline,  rights  and  privileges,  are  and 
shall  be  null  and  void.^  ' 

To  such  pretensions  but  one  answer  could  be  given, 
and  in  repudiating  them  statesmen  of  all  parties  con- 
curred. In  this  matter,  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  Lord  John 
Russell,  Lord  Melbourne  and  Lord  Aberdeen,  were  alto- 
gether at  one. 

The  judgment  of  the  House  of  Lords,  which  declared 
the  passing  of  the  Veto  Act  by  the  General  Assembly  to 
have  been  ultra  vires  and  null,  and  confirmed  the  decree 
of  the  Court  of  Session  ordering  the  Presbytery  of  Auchter- 
arder  to  proceed  to  the  trial  of  the  presentee,  was,  of  course, 
of  general  application.  Another  vetoed  minister,  the  pre- 
sentee to  the  parish  of  Marnoch,  applied  to  the  Court  of 
Session  to  issue  a  similar  decree  to  the  Presbytery  of  Strath - 
>  General  Assembly's  'Claim  of  Right,'  1842. 


THE   MARNOCH   CASE  145 

bogie  on  his  behalf.  The  Court  of  Session  complied  with 
his  prayer.  The  proceeding  was  somewhat  analogous  to  that 
of  moving  in  the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench  for  a  mandamus 
to  compel  a  bishop  to  hear  a  suit  which  he  had  declined  to 
entertain.  The  Court  did  not  prescribe  the  judgment  to  be 
given  by  the  ecclesiastical  authority.  It  did  not  even  pre- 
scribe the  procedure.  It  did  not  direct  the  Presbytery  to 
ordain,  as  the  Non-Intrusionists  laboured  hard  to  prove  it 
did ;  but  it  did  direct  it  to  perform  the  proper  function 
imposed  on  it  by  statute,  of  inquiring  whether  the  pre- 
sentee lawfully  presented  was  or  was  not  qualified  for 
ordination.  This,  however,  the  dominant  party  in  the 
Assembly  regarded  as  an  intrusion  into  things  spiritual, 
and  prohibited  the  Presbytery  from  obeying  the  decree  of 
the  Court  of  Session.  The  majority  of  the  Presbytery, 
nevertheless,  resolved  to  perform  their  statutable  duty,  as 
directed  by  the  Court.  They  did  not  proceed  to  ordain 
the  presentee,  but  they  examined  him,  and  reported  him 
quaHfied,  and  for  so  doing  they  were  at  once  suspended 
from  all  clerical  functions  by  the  General  Assembly. 

The  suspended  ministers  appealed  by  petition  to  the 
House  of  Lords  for  protection,  and  their  petition  was  pre- 
sented to  the  House  by  Lord  Aberdeen  on  June  19. 

It  never  happened  to  me  before  (he  wrote)  to  speak  to  an 
audience  every  one  of  whom  by  his  looks  and  voice  and 
manner  gave  evident  token  of  his  agreeing  in  every  word  I 
said.  When  I  say  every  one  of  my  audience,  I  must  except 
the  unhappy  Breadalbane,  who  literally  stood  alone.  ...  I  felt 
that  every  word  told\  and  that  the  whole  thing  was  very 
effective. 

During  the  autumn  and  winter  of  1840  the  agitation 

in  favour  of  Non-Intrusion  continued  and  increased,  and  a 

new  feature  was  given  to  it  by  the  conversion  of  the  leading 

members  of  the  dominant  party  to  the  view  that  the  total 

abolition  of  patronage  afforded  the  only  effectual  safeguard 


146  I.ORD   Ar.ERDEEN 

against  the  intrusion  of  unacceptable  ministers.  To  such 
a  settlement  of  the  question  Lord  Aberdeen  would  have 
felt  no  strong  repugnance ;  but  it  was  useless  at  that  time 
to  regard  it  as  a  practical  solution  of  the  difficulty,  as  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  force  a  measure  giving  effect 
to  it  through  the  Legislature.  Nor  would  any  settlement, 
however  satisfactory,  of  the  Non- Intrusion  question  alone 
have  now  sufficed  altogether  to  restore  peace,  for  the  Church 
was  daily,  step  by  step,  committing  itself  more  deeply  to  the 
assertion  of  claims  in  which  no  civil  government  could  for 
a  moment  acquiesce. 

On  the  reassembling  of  Parliament  in  1841  Lord  Aber- 
deen was  questioned  as  to  the  course  which  he  proposed  to 
pursue.  He  replied  that  he  did  not  at  present  intend  to 
renew  his  action  of  the  previous  year. 

Different  as  were  the  objections  made  to  it — the  Lord 
Chancellor  deeming  it  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  the  Crown 
and  the  laity,  and  the  General  Assembly  regarding  it  as 
'  riveting  the  chains  of  patronage,'  and  an  attempt  to  '  dethrone 
the  Redeemer ' — they  were  united  in  practical  opposition  to  the 
Bill.  He  hoped  it  was  not  liable  to  either  class  of  the  objections 
urged  against  it ;  but  combined,  they  appeared  to  deprive  him 
of  all  chance  of  effecting  the  only  good  he  hoped  for — that  of 
restoring  peace. 

My  limits  preclude  me  from  entering  at  any  length  on 
the  measure  which,  on  Lord  Aberdeen's  withdrawal,  the  late 
Duke  of  Argyll  announced  his  intention  to  propose.  The 
head  of  a  great  house,  distinguished  for  its  attachment  to 
the  Scottish  Church,  he  possessed  a  species  of  hereditary 
claim  to  undertake  a  task  for  which  he  had  few  other  quali- 
fications. Had  he  persevered,  it  was  Lord  Aberdeen's 
intention  to  move  amendments  which  would  have  made  the 
Bill  essentially  conformable  to  his  own. 

I  think  (he  wrote)  I  could  manage  to  do  this  without  much 
difficulty  ;  and  when  done,  it  would  probably  be  less  unaccept- 
able to  the  majority  of  the  Assembly,  and  less  humiliating  to 


PROSPECT   OF   ARRANGEMENT  147 

them  than  to  return  to  my  original  Bill.  I  continue  to  have 
much  discussion  with  Lord  John.  He  still  adheres  to  the 
necessity  of  having  a  majority  to  dissent.  Such  is  his  opinion 
of  the  Presbyteries  that  he  fears  they  will  excite  the  objections 
of  a  few  in  order  to  give  effect  to  them  afterwards.  He  told  me 
that  the  matter  had  been  discussed  some  time  ago  in  the 
Cabinet,  and  that  it  was  determined  they  should  support  my 
Bill  if  I  would  agree  to  adopt  the  provision  of  a  majority. 

The  defeat  of  the  Government,  however,  and  the  dissolu- 
tion of  Parliament  which  followed,  practically  put  an  end  to 
any  further  action  on  the  part  of  the  Duke  of  Argyll. 

From  an  early  period  of  the  session  of  1841  it  had  be- 
come evident  that  the  days  of  the  Melbourne  Ministry  were 
numbered,  and  that  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  Lord  Aberdeen 
would  speedily  be  at  the  head  of  a  Government  in  which 
the  influence  of  the  latter  on  Scotch  matters  would  be  para- 
mount. This  fact,  and  the  reaction  produced  by  the 
violence  and  illegality  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Church 
leaders,  led  during  the  summer  to  attempts  at  arrangement, 
which  Lord  Aberdeen  willingly  promoted. 

The  result  of  these  conferences  was  that  Bills  were  pre- 
pared, different  in  form  but  containing  the  essential  principle 
of  Lord  Aberdeen's  Bill ;  and  it  was  settled  that  Sir  George 
Sinclair  should  receive  powers  from  the  Church  authorities 
to  propose  to  the  Government  a  Bill  so  altered,  and  that  the 
new  Government,  which  had  now  succeeded  that  of  Lord 
Melbourne,  should  accept  it. 

There  was,  therefore,  every  prospect  that  the  preliminary 
agreement  on  the  questions  at  issue  would  be  crowned  with 
complete  success  ;  and  it  probably  would  have  been  so  but 
for  an  unlucky  accident. 

On  the  very  day  on  which  the  arrangement  was  to  be 
carried  into  effect,  by  the  ratification  of  the  Non-Intrusion 
Committee,  the  news  of  an  unexpected  indiscretion  on  the 
part  of  the  new  Lord  Advocate,  Sir  William  Rae,  wholly 

L  2 


148  LORD   ABERDEEN 

defeated  it.     He  had  vacated  his  seat  by  accepting  office, 

and  had  to  undergo  re-election  in  Bute.     He  was  unopposed, 

and  need  have  made  no  embarrassing  declarations,  but  he 

thought  proper  to  announce  that  the  Government  had  a 

measure  in  view  for  the  settlement  of  the  Church  question, 

and  that  it  would  be  a  liberal  measure,  going  even  beyond 

that  of  the  Duke  of  Argyll.     The  natural  result  followed. 

Cunningham,  Candlish^  and  Bruce  (wrote  the  Dean  of 
Faculty),  though  at  first  much  excited  by  the  speech,  concurred 
in  the  resolution  to  propose  to  give  Sir  G.  Sinclair  the  requisite 
powers  ;  but  Dunlop  refused  to  attend,  and  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Non-Intrusion  Committee  succeeded  in  persuading  a  majority 
to  reject  the  plan.  Up  to  the  moment  of  seeing  Rae's  speech  the 
clergy  were  in  perfect  earnest — most  anxious,  most  thankful — 
and  the  readiness  which  they  showed  as  to  the  adjustment  of  the 
Strathbogie  case  marked  how  anxious  they  were  to  get  out  of 
the  whole  scrape.  From  what  Candlish  and  Cunningham  said 
to  Sinclair,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Dunlop  and  the  other  Whigs 
worked  on  the  Committee  (of  course  for  double  mischief)  by 
the  aid  of  Rae's  speech  ;  and  no  wonder,  for  they  said  :  '  Here 
it  is  announced  that  the  Government  have  a  plan  :  you  see  how 
it  is  described  :  how  absurd  it  is  in  us  now  to  agree  to  something 
so  far  short  of  the  lowest  meaning  that  the  Lord  Advocate's 
words  are  susceptible  of  .  .  .' 

Of  course  the  Lord  Advocate's  uncalled-for  blundering, 

and  its  results,  gave  great  disappointment  to  Lord  Aberdeen 

and  the  rest  of  the  Cabinet  who  took  interest  in  the  question. 

Sir  R.  Peel  and  Sir  James  Graham  were  so  sure  of  success, 

that  they  had  begun  to  discuss  whether  the  session  should 

not  be  prolonged  in  order  to  pass  the  necessary  Bill.     Sir 

James  Graham  wrote  to  Lord  Aberdeen  : 

Nothing  can  be  more  tantalising  and  annoying  than  this 
total  failure  on  the  eve  of  complete  success.  I  have  not  seen 
the  report  of  Rae's  speech  ;  if  it  be  inaccurate  he  must 
instantly  publish  a  correction  of  it,  and  endeavour  to  remove 
the  false  impression  which  unhappily  he  has  produced  ;  if  it 
be  accurate,  he  must  acknowledge  the  error  into  which  he 
himself  has  fallen,  and  avow  that  he  spoke  without  authority, 
and  that  the  Government  disclaims  any  promise  or  intention 
of  legislation  such  as  he  seems  to  have  contemplated,  No  time 
should  be  lost. 


FAILURE   OF    NEGOTIATIONS  I49 

This  course  was  at  once  adopted,  but  the  mischief  had 
been  done  ;  and  though  negotiations  were  renewed,  and  Sir 
George  Sinclair  ultimately  received  a  species  of  authority 
from  the  Committee  to  accept  Lord  Aberdeen's  Bill  with 
the  addition  proposed  by  him,  which  Lord  Aberdeen  was 
ready  to  adopt,  the  golden  moment  had  passed  irrecover- 
ably ;  for  the  Committee  rose  in  its  demands,  and  attached 
to  the  additional  clause  a  meaning  which  it  would  not  bear, 
and  when  this  was  pointed  out,  professed  that  they  had 
accepted  it  under  a  mistaken  impression.  They,  in  truth, 
decided  to  await  the  proposals  which  they  still  expected 
would  be  made  to  them  by  the  Government,  and  which 
they  still  thought  would  be  more  favourable  to  them.  Lord 
Aberdeen  then  wrote  : 

I  am  of  opinion  that  we  ought  to  suspend  all  negotiations 
with  the  dominant  party  at  present.  They  know  to  what  we 
would  have  acceded  ;  and  I  see  no  reason  to  advance  a  step 
further.  We  were  disposed  to  assent  to  a  proposal  made  to  us  ; 
and  we  may  listen  to,  but  not  invite,  any  other. 

I  am  not  writing  the  History  of  the  Disruption  of  the 
Scottish  Church  Establishment,  but  that  of  Lord  Aberdeen's 
share  in  the  transactions  connected  with  it.  The  year  1842, 
so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  was  comparatively  one  of 
quiescence  as  regards  ecclesiastical  affairs.  Acting  on  his 
advice,  no  measure  was  introduced  by  the  Government 
with  a  view  of  altering  the  law,  and  his  occupations  as 
Secretary  of  State  hindered  his  active  intervention  in  the 
progress  of  events  in  Scotland.  But  though  the  Government 
was  quiescent,  the  Church  was  far  from  being  so.  On 
May  25,  1842,  the  General  Assembly  adopted  its  famous 
'Claim  of  Right,' and  in  the  following  November  resolu- 
tions were  adopted  at  a  Convocation  of  Non-Intrusionists 
held  at  Glasgow,  which  pledged  those  who  voted  for  it  to 
secession  in  the  event  of  that  claim  being  rejected.      A 


150  LORD  ABERDEEN 

secession  of  greater  or  less  magnitude  was  now  inevitable, 

for  the  '  Claim  of  Right'  was  one  which  no  Civil  Government 

or  Legislature  could  admit  on  the  part  of  an  Established 

Church,  or  indeed  any  other ;  and  Lord  Aberdeen  thought 

that  the  time  had  now  come  for  legislation  with  a  view  to 

limiting  the   approaching  schism  to  the  smallest  possible 

dimensions. 

I  do  not  agree  with  you  (he  wrote  on  March  lo,  1843,10  the 
Lord  Justice-Clerk,  as  the  Dean  of  Faculty  had  now  become) 
in  the  opinion  you  express  of  the  inexpediency  of  attempting 
anything  at  present.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  we  ought  to 
make  an  effort  to  prevent  the  great  secession  which  now  seems 
inevitable.  I  believe  we  may  carry  through  Parliament  any- 
thing we  think  likely  to  be  of  use  ;  and  if  Parliament  and  the 
Government  are  united  in  their  support  of  that  which  will  satisfy 
all  the  reasonable  portion  of  the  Church,  we  may  hope  matters 
will  gradually  become  tranquil.  .  .  .  Your  letter  is  at  present 
in  Peel's  hands,  and  he  is,  I  think,  very  likely  to  agree  in  the 
view  you  take  of  the  question.  Probably  more  entirely  than  I 
can  do,  although  I  fully  admit  there  is  great  force  in  all  you  say. 
I  have  not  time  at  present  to  explain  more  fully  the  reasons 
which  make  me  demur  in  arriving  at  your  conclusion. 

On  March  28th  he  says  : 

I  do  not  now  think  there  is  much  probability  of  a  Bill  being 
attempted.  I  was  the  only  person  who  desired  it,  and  this 
was  chiefly  with  a  wish  to  save  these  poor  fellows  if  possible. 
I  fear  they  will  not  have  courage  to  break  off  from  their  party 
in  any  great  numbers,  unless  under  such  encouragement. 

Lord  Aberdeen  was  perfectly  right,  and  Sir  James 
Graham  in  later  years  loudly  and  emphatically  expressed 
his  bitter  regret  at  having  disregarded  Lord  Aberdeen's 
deliberate  and  independent  judgment  on  this  occasion  ; 
'  the  only  time  I  ever  did  so.'  But  the  strong  and  vehe- 
ment opposition  of  the  Lord  Justice-Clerk  prevailed  ;  the 
offer  of  legislation  was  delayed  till  the  meeting  of  the 
General  Assembly  in  May  ;  and  a  secession  then  took  place, 
the  dimensions  of  which  must  have  not  a  little  surprised 
that  eminent  personage,  who  up  to  the  last  moment  had 


PASSAGE   OF   THE   ACT  15I 

thought  that  the  number  of  seceders  would  be  small.  It 
is  curious  to  observe  how  often  the  acutest  lawyers  are 
deceived  by  their  over-estimate  of  the  power  of  the  written 
law. 

The  need  of  a  provision  against  the  intrusion  of  unfit 
persons  into  a  parochial  charge  did  not  cease  with  the 
secession  ;  and,  the  Assembly  having  resolved  that  the  illegal 
Veto  Act  had  been  ab  initio  null  and  void,  Lord  Aberdeen 
reintroduced  his  Bill,  which  was  strenuously  objected  to  by 
the  English  Law  Lords  as  giving  too  much  power  to  the 
Church.  Greville's  Diary  gives  a  specimen  of  the  views  in 
this  sense  expressed  even  by  the  Lord  Chancellor,  who  had 
to  defend  the  Bill.  It  may  be  judged  from  this  what 
chance  there  would  have  been  of  passing  such  a  Bill  as 
the  authors  of  the  '  Claim  of  Right '  desired.  Lord  Aber- 
deen's Act  became  law  in  August  1843,  and  remained  in 
force  until  the  abolition  of  patronage  in  1874. 


152  LORD   ABERDEEN 


CHAPTER   VII 

FOREIGN   OFFICE  :    1841-1846 

Relations  with  France— The  Tahiti  Affair — The  Greek  Revolution  — 
The  Spanish  Marriages — The  Ashburton  and  Oregon  Treaties  — 
Questions  raised  in  connection  with  Texas— Farewells  of  M. 
Guizot  and  Mme.  de  Lieven. 

The  desire  to  follow  out  the  Scottish  Church  Question 
to  its  end  has  led  me  to  anticipate  events.  We  must 
now  return  to  1841,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Melbourne 
Ministry.  On  Sir  Robert  Peel's  accession  to  power,  Lord 
Aberdeen  had,  as  a  matter  of  course,  returned  to  the 
Foreign  Office.  He  resumed  the  seals  of  that  department 
with  very  different  authority  from  that  which  belonged  to 
him  when  he  first  received  them  thirteen  years  before.  Not 
only  did  he  possess,  in  a  far  higher  degree  than  he  had 
then  done,  general  confidence  and  respect,  but  his  relation\ 
towards  the  chief  of  the  Government  was  wholly  different  I 
from  what  it  had  been  in  1828.  He  had  regarded  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  as  his  superior,  and  shown  to  him  a 
deference  which  he  never  accorded  to  Sir  Robert  Peel,  with 
whom  he  had  grown  up  from  boyhood  on  an  intimate 
footing  of  perfect  equality.  A  still  more  important  dif- 
ference resulted  from  the  fact  that  while  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  when  Prime  Minister,  occupied  himself  largely 
with  foreign  affairs,  which  he  liked  and  understood,  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  who  did  not  so  well  understand  them,  was 
content  to  leave  their  control  and  management  as  entirely 


FRANCE   AND   ENGLAND  I53 

in  the  hands  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  as  in  the  Melbourne  Cabinet 
they  had  been  in  those  of  Lord  Palmerston. 

The  principal  achievement  of  the  five  years  spent  by 
Lord  Aberdeen  at  the  Foreign  Office,  and  which  were  un- 
questionably the  most  successful  and  the  happiest  of  his 
official  life,  was  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
a  cordial  and  intimate  understanding  with  the  French 
Government. 

The  present  generation  is  hardly  able  fully  to  estimate 
the  difficulties  of  effecting  such  an  understanding.  France 
and  England  are  at  the  present  day  bound  together  by 
many  ties.  The  manners  and  character  of  the  French 
people  are  no  longer  regarded  by  the  average  Englishman 
with  contempt  and  ridicule.  France,  as  a  nation,  is  now 
neither  feared  nor  hated  by  England,  and  while  it  must  be 
confessed  that  antipathy  to  England  is  still  too  common  in 
France,  it  does  not  possess  the  same  intensity  as  during 
the  first  half  of  the  present  century.  The  jealousy  and 
suspicion  with  which  Englishmen  then  regarded  France 
have  been  to  a  great  degree  transferred  to  Russia  ;  while 
Germany,  rather  than  England,  is  now  the  object  of  French 
hatred  and  ill-will.  Memories  of  Sedan  have  obscured 
those  of  Waterloo. 

But  in  1 84 1  France  was  still,  and  justly,  regarded  as 
the  most  formidable  enemy  with  which  England  could  be 
called  on  to  contend  in  Europe,  and  as  the  power  with 
which,  owing  to  the  existence  of  conflicting  interests  in 
every  quarter  of  the  globe,  disputes  were  most  likely  to 
arise,  while  the  memories  of  defeat  had  roused  passions 
which  rendered  the  settlement  of  such  disputes  particularly 
difficult.  The  ill  feeling  ordinarily  existing  towards  England 
in  France  was,  in  1841,  accentuated  by  the  successful  efforts 
of  M.  Thiers  to  stimulate  it  in  the  previous  year — efforts 


154  LORD  ABERDEEN 

which  had  led  the  two  countries  to  the  brink  of  war, — and 
by  the  irritation  of  the  Cabinet  which  had  succeeded  him, 
at  the  want  of  consideration  shown  by  Lord  Pahnerston 
to  its  exertions  in  the  cause  of  peace.  For  this  state 
of  things  it  was  Lord  Aberdeen's  aim  to  substitute  a 
cordial  alliance,  but  an  alliance  of  a  peculiar  character. 
England  and  France  united  might  indeed  dictate  to  the 
world  :  but  Lord  Aberdeen  coveted  no  such  dictation. 
While  on  friendly  terms  with  France,  and  acting  in  concert 
with  her,  it  was  his  object  at  the  same  time  tcf  preserve 
intimate  relations  with  those  Powers,  the  alliance  of  which 
with  England  acted  as  a  check  on  France.  A  good  under- 
standing with  France  alone  would  have  left  too  much 
in  her  power.  To  be  of  real  value  to  England,  the  under- 
standing must  be  one  not  calculated  to  disturb  the  suscepti- 
bilities of  other  great  Powers  in  Europe.  Lord  Aberdeen 
therefore  strained  every  nerve  to  secure  the  same  cordial 
goodwill  on  the  part  of  other  nations  that  he  had  obtained 
from  the  French,  and  with  such  success,  that  when,  in  spite 
of  the  perfect  understanding  between  their  Governments,  the 
mutual  suspicion  and  dislike  of  the  two  nations  seemed 
about  to  make  a  cause  of  war  out  of  a  trumpery  quarrel, 
the  Emperor  of  Russia,  who  had  no  personal  interest  in  the 
matter  in  dispute,  offered  to  place  his  fleet  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Queen  of  England. 

Lord  Aberdeen's  efforts  to  put  the  relations  of  France 
and  England  on  a  satisfactory  footing  were  cordially  met 
by  equal  efforts  on  the  part  of  Louis  Philippe  and  his 
minister.  Louis  Philippe  was  determined  at  all  costs  to 
remain  at  peace  with  England,  and  M.  Guizot  attached 
no  less  importance  to  its  preservation.  Between  Lord 
Aberdeen  and  Guizot  there  was  a  similarity  of  character 
which  enabled  them  thoroughly  to  appreciate  and  under- 


'  ABERDEEN   AND  GUlZOT  1 55 

stand  each  other.  Each  was  essentially  a  scholar  and 
philosopher,  to  whom  the  conduct  of  public  affairs  was 
comparatively  an  accident  of  life,  not  its  most  absorbing 
interest  and  business.  In  both,  a  reserved  and  austere 
exterior  covered,  and  all  but  concealed,  an  exquisite  tender- 
ness, little  suspected  by  those  with  whom  they  ordinarily 
came  in  contact  in  the  world.  Each  had  a  profound  and 
half-scornful  sense  of  the  comparative  triviality  of  even  the 
most  important  affairs  with  which  they  had  to  deal.  Each 
was  sin(^ely  and  simply  religious,  and  rigid  in  his  notions 
of  public  virtue.  Each  was  a  lover  of  peace  for  its  own 
sake,  estimating  but  lightly  the  value  of  military  glory,  and 
perhaps  underrating  the  amount  of  ability  involved  in 
military  exploits.  They  soon  became  bound  to  each  other 
not  only  by  ties  of  mutual  esteem  as  public  men,  but  by 
those  of  strong  personal  affection.  In  this  personal  cha- 
racter of  the  famous  entente  cordiale  lay  both  its  strength 
and  its  weakness. 

The  greatest  difficulty  encountered  by  both  statesmen 
was  that  of  inducing  their  subordinate  agents  to  act  in  the 
spirit  of  their  own  understanding.  Each  had  in  this  task 
to  contend  with  nearly  the  same  degree  of  obstinate  pre- 
judice. There  was  hardly  an  English  agent  abroad,  whether 
ambassador,  minister,  or  consul,  who  did  not  think  that 
opposition  to  France  was  necessarily  the  soundest  English 
policy,  or  who  did  not  feel  a  kind  of  superior  and  con- 
temptuous pity  for  the  blindness  and  weakness  of  a 
Secretary  of  State  who  allowed  himself,  as  they  supposed, 
to  be  duped  by  the  professions  of  a  French  statesman. 
And  if  this  was  the  case  among  English  agents,  similar 
feelings  exercised  a  yet  stronger  influence  over  those  of 
France.  English  public  servants  might  differ  from  or  even 
despise  their  chiefs,  but  as  a  rule  they  obeyed  them.     The 


156  LORD   ABERDEEN 

bonds  of  discipline  were  far  looser  in  the  French  service. 
French  diplomatists  abroad  hardly  concealed,  and  indeed 
in  many  cases  did  not  conceal,  their  indignation  at  the 
tameness  of  a  Minister  whom  they  stigmatised  as  corrupted 
by  la  perfide  Albion.  Only  too  often  they  almost  op"^nly 
defied  their  instructions,  and,  relying  on  the  certainty  of 
support  in  the  Chambers  and  in  the  Press,  intrigued  against 
and  opposed  the  English  colleagues  with  whom  they  had 
been  told  to  act  in  concert. 

The  extent  of  the  difficulty  thus  created  can  only  be 
truly  estimated  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  spirit  in 
question  was  strongest,  and  its  exhibition  least  liable  to 
control,  among  the  minor  agents  of  both  Powers  :  the  host 
of  consuls  who  cover  the  face  of  the  globe.  Wherever  an 
English  and  a  French  consul  were  stationed,  each  regarded 
the  other  as  a  natural  enemy.  Each  regarded  the  actions 
and  wishes  of  the  other  with  dislike  and  distrust,  and  con- 
sidered it  an  even  more  imperative  duty  to  thwart  (as  the 
case  might  be)  English  or  French  interests  ^or  what  to  their 
narrow  local  view  seemed  to  be  such)  than  to  advance  those 
of  his  own  country. 

The  most  serious  danger  to  the  friendly  relations  be- 
tween the  two  countries  which  arose  during  Lord  Aber- 
deen's administration  was  due  to  an  obscure  collision  of  this 
character  in  Tahiti  \  where  an  English  subject,  who  had 
once  been  a  missionary,  and  subsequently  a  consul,  but  who, 
at  the  time  in  question,  was  neither  the  one  nor  the  other, 
was,  on  political  grounds,  imprisoned  with  some  harshness 
and  indignity  by  the  French  governor. 

Had  the  conduct  of  foreign  affairs  been  in  other  hands  in 
either  country ;  had  Thiers  presided  over  them  in  France,  or 
Palmerston  been  Secretary  of  State  in  England,  war  would  all 
but  inevitably  have  ensued.  The  excitement  in  both  countries 


THE   TAHITI   AFFAIR  I  57 

was  extreme.  The  demand  for  punishment  of  the  outrage 
on  a  British  consul,  as  Mr.  Pritchard  was  universally  though 
erroneously  styled,  was  all  but  unanimous,  and  the  fact 
that  he  had  been  a  missionary  led  to  a  clamour  for  war 
from  those  who  were  usually  ministers  of  peace.  Sir  Robert 
Peel  himself  was  carried  away  by  the  torrent,  and  made  a 
speech  which  rendered  the  difficult  task  of  those  who  were 
labouring  to  preserve  peace  yet  more  difficult.  This  speech 
he  had  afterwards  to  modify,  and  expressed  regret  for  having, 
made  it. 

Guizot  and  Aberdeen  were,  however,  determined  that, 
so  long  as  they  remained  ministers,  hostilities  should  not 
ensue,  and  that,  if  indeed  the  war  fever  prevailed,  it  should 
only  be  through  the  overthrow  of  both,  ^ut  the  danger 
was  grave.  A  majority  of  the  English  Cabinet,  including  the 
Prime  Minister,  were  for  the  adoption  of  measures  which 
must  have  rendered  war  inevitable,  and  which  were  with 
difficulty  averted  by  Lord  Aberdeen  ;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  indemnity  which  the  French  Government  agreed 
to  pay  to  the  aggrieved  Englishman  had  to  be  defrayed  by 
the  King  from  his  own  Civil  List,  as  no  vote  for  its  payment 
could  be  proposed  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  with  any' 
chance  of  success. 

Had  this  '  senseless  outcry  '  really  proved  too  strong  for 

their  control,  the  two  Ministers  had  agreed  to  resign  on  the 

same  day.     How  nearly  this  result  was  reached  is  shown 

by  the  following  extracts   from  Lord  Aberdeen's  letters  to 

Madame  de  Lieven  : 

You  may  imagine  how  very  critical  our  situation  must  have 
been,  when  I  tell  you  that  the  Speech  was  read  and  approved 
by  the  Queen  in  Council  at  Windsor  on  Tuesday,  and  that  it 
did  not  contain  a  single  word  of  allusion  to  France,  or  to  any 
foreign  matter  whatever.  This  silence  would  have  been  elo- 
quent, and  the  lamentable  consequences  awaiting  U3  would 
have  been  as  clearly  announced  by  it  as  by  any  words.  .  .  . 


158  LORD   ABERDEEN 

You  could  have  formed  no  conception  of  the  state  of  pubUck 
feeling  in  this  country.  I  saw  it  with  astonishment  and  regret, 
but  it  was  impossible  to  deny  that  persons  of  all  ranks  and  classes 
had  made  up  their  minds  to  war ;  even  those  from  whom  it  could 
least  have  been  expected.  People  are  easily  reconciled  to  what 
they  believe  to  be  inevitable,  and  this  appeared  to  be  the 
universal  persuasion. 

In  the  same  letter  he  told  the  Princess  that  '  notwith- 
standing her  incredulity,  she  would  at  last  be  convinced, 
and  perhaps  before  long,  of  the  sincerity  of  his  desire  to 
abandon  all  official  employment.'     She  replied  : 

Vous  choisissez  mal  votre  moment  pour  me  menacer  de 
votre  retraite.  Comment  !  Lorsque  vous  venez  de  donner 
une  preuve  si  frappante  de  I'importance  attachee  k  votre  per- 
sonne,  k  votre  jugement,  k  votre  influence,  vous  parlez  de 
quitter  la  partie?  Vous  savez  que  sans  vous  la  paix  etait 
compromise ;  vous  savez  que  sans  vous  elle  pourrait  I'etre 
demain,  et  vous  enverriez  comme  cela  promener  I'Europe? 
Oh  non,  my  lord,  cela  ne  pent  plus  etre.  Vous  avez  perdu  le 
droit  de  le  faire  et  meme  de  le  dire.  Je  ne  puis  plus  douter 
de  la  sincdrite  de  votre  desir,  car  il  doit  etre  bien  ardent  pour 
que  vous  ayiez  pu  vous  livrer  k  une  pensee  pareille  dans  un 
pareil  moment,  apr^s  une  pareille  epreuve  de  votre  puissance. 
Je  crois  done  k  vos  voeux  tant  que  vous  voudrez,  mais  je  le 
repete,  vous  n'avez  plus  le  droit  de  vous  retirer.  La  paix  du 
monde  doit  passer  avant  vos  gouts  et  vos  inclinations,  et, — 
Dieu  merci, — vous  avez  trop  d'honneur  au  cceur  pour  ne  pas 
savoir  porter  ces  sacrifices. 

Vous  souvenez-vous  du  temps  oii  je  vous  conjurais  d'etre 
vraiment  Ministre,  de  ne  consulter  que  votre  propre  instinct, 
votre  propre  jugement?  Depuis  trois  ans  vous  avez  use  de 
la  plenitude  de  ce  droit,  et  certes  I'Europe  doit  benir  votre 
Ministere.  Je  repete,  je  suis  bien  contente,  et  meme  un  peu 
fiere,  car  vous  savez  les  sentimens  que  j'ai  pour  vous. 

In  Spain,  in  Greece,  and  elsewhere.  Lord  Aberdeen  and 
Guizot  had  to  deal  with  subordinates  who,  in  evading  their 
orders,  sincerely  thought  that  they  were  serving  their 
country. 

In  Spain,  the  want  of  cordial  co-operation  between  the 
diplomatic  agents  of  the  two  nations  led  to  lasting  and 
disastrous  results.     In  Greece,  it  was  the  cause  of  much 


THE  GREEK   REVOLUTION  1 59 

temporary  embarrassment,  but  had  little  effect  on  the  ulti- 
mate march  of  events. 

Those  who  would  attribute  Lord  Aberdeen's  rooted 
objection  to  the  meddling  of  England  in  the  domestic  affairs 
of  other  nations  to  a  sympathy  with  despotic  governments, 
might  with  advantage  study  the  attitude  which  he  assumed 
towards  the  Greek  Revolution  of  1843.  This  was  a  revolu- 
tion brought  about  by  no  foreign  influence.  The  move- 
ment was  spontaneous,  general,  and  decisive,  and  as  such 
would  in  any  case  have  been  readily  accepted  by  Lord 
Aberdeen  as  an  expression  of  the  will  of  the  Greek  people. 
But  this  was  not  all.  It  was  hailed  by  him  as  a  wise  and 
judicious  step.  He  rejoiced  to  see  the  Greek  people  thus 
assert  their  right,  their  power,  and  their  determination  to 
rule  their  own  land.  He  wrote  to  Sir  Robert  Peel  that  he 
had,  in  compliance  with  his  wish,  toned  down  the  terms  of 
approval  which  he  had  used  in  writing  officially  on  the  sub- 
ject, but  he  added  that,  though  he  had  done  so, 

I  think  it  will  be  desirable  that  we  should  take  our  ground  at 
once  in  support  of  the  Greek  Revolution.  I  have  never  known 
a  change  more  imperatively  called  for,  more  fully  justified,  or 
more  wisely  carried  into  effect. 

Instead  of  allowing  free  play  to  the  action  of  the  new 
Constitution,  the  English  and  French  Ministers  at  Athens 
distracted  the  little  State  by  their  intrigues  and  animosities  ; 
each  of  them  adopted  a  favourite  politician,  and  spared 
no  exertion  to  bring  him  into  power  and  to  discredit  his 
adversary.  The  British  Minister  was  Sir  Edmund  Lyons, 
afterwards  Lord  Lyons,  a  gallant  sailor  and  distinguished 
admiral,  but  no  diplomatist.  The  French  Minister  was 
M.  Piscatory,  who  looked  more  to  the  plaudits  of  the  Oppo- 
sition in  the  French  Chambers  than  to  the  wishes  of  his 
own  Government.     The  following  letter  from  Lord  Aberdeen 


l6o  LORD   ABERDEEN 

to  Sir  Edmund  Lyons  gives  a  fair  idea  both  of  his  style  of 
remonstrance  with  his  subordinates  and  of  the  difficulties  he 
had  to  encounter  : 

Novetnber  ii,  1844. — I  lament  that  M.  Piscatory -should 
have  promoted  M.  Coletti's  intrigue  for  the  overthrow  of 
Mavrocordato's  Ministry.  This  renders  future  confidence  be- 
tween you  impossible  ;  but  you  have  allowed  your  resentment 
to  interfere  with  your  social  relations  in  a  very  undignified  and 
improper  manner.  When  you  make  it  the  subject  of  official 
complaint  that  M.  Piscatory  regaled  a  set  of  idle  ragamuffins 
with  wine  and  fruit,  and  that  he  held  up  his  two  little  children 
in  his  arms  to  the  populace,  I  am  surprised  that  you  should 
not  see  that  such  pitiable  stuff  as  this  is  not  worthy  of  being 
reported. 

I  have  prescribed  in  my  official  despatches  the  course  which 
you  ought  now  to  pursue.  Confidence  is  out  of  the  question, 
and  you  should  maintain  a  dignified  reserve  in  all  matters 
connected  with  the  internal  politics  of  Greece.  But  there  ought 
to  be  no  change  whatever  in  your  personal  habits  of  courtesy 
and  politeness.  It  is  for  the  French  Government  to  judge  the 
conduct  of  M.  Piscatory. 

I  cannot  require  you  to  approve  of,  or  to  support  the  Govern- 
ment of  M.  Coletti,  because  I  by  no  means  approve  of  it 
myself ;  but  it  will  be  your  duty  to  do  nothing,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  to  oppose  it.  I  must  repeat  my  positive  injunc- 
tion that  no  man  shall  be  considered  as  the  English  candidate 
for  office.  I  believe  M.  Mavrocordato  to  be  a  perfectly  honest 
man,  probably  the  most  honest  public  man  in  Greece  ;  and  I 
sincerely  regret,  for  the  sake  of  his  country,  that  he  has  not  been 
able  to  retain  his  situation  as  Minister.  He  may  reasonably 
complain  of  the  hostility  of  those  from  whom  he  had  every  ground 
to  expect  support.  But  you  are  to  recollect  that  you  are  living 
in  a  Constitutional  Government,  and  that  M.  Mavrocordato's 
defeat  could  not  have  happened  if  he  had  possessed  a  majority 
in  the  Chambers.  We  may  lament  the  perverseness  of  the 
King  and  the  blindness  of  the  Legislature,  but  there  is  no 
appeal  from  this  decision  ;  and  it  is  in  the  Chambers  only  that 
M.  Mavrocordato  must  take  his  revenge.  You  are  to  recollect 
that  Greece  is  not  England,  and  that  if  the  King  and  the 
Chambers  prefer  a  bad  Ministry  to  a  good  one,  it  is  their  own 
misfortune  ;  but  they  are  supreme. 

I  must  say  a  word  about  the  loss  of  English  influence, 
which  is  a  fertile  topic  in  our  newspapers.  But  I  really  do  not 
comprehend  what  this  means.  Let  M.  Piscatory  and  M. 
Coletti  govern  Greece  if  they  can,  and  in  the  best  manner  they 
can.  Let  them  make  Greece  as  French  as  they  please,  I  will 
take  good  care  that  justice  shall  be  done  to  British  subjects 


LETTER   TO   GUIZOT  l6l 

whenever  their  rights  or  interests  are  concerned.  I  defy  them 
to  destroy  or  to  weaken  the  only  influence  which  is  worth 
possessing.  Whether  you  possess  the  ear  of  the  Minister  or 
not  is  a  matter  of  very  little  importance  ;  the  superior  probity, 
enterprise,  and  wealth  of  British  merchants  will  always  ensure 
the  preservation  of  British  influence.  I  desire  no  other  than 
that  which  arises  from  this  source,  and  from  our  upright  and 
disinterested  conduct  in  our  relations  with  the  Government. 

But  while  writing  thus  to  Sir  E.  Lyons,  Lord  Aberdeen 

did  not  conceal  from  M.  Guizot  his  opinion  of  the  conduct 

of  M  Piscatory. 

I  am  bound  to  declare  (he  writes)  that  I  cannot  doubt 
M.  Piscatory's  participation  in  the  intrigue  for  the  overthrow 
of  Mavrocordato.  This  may  safely  be  inferred  from  the  tenour 
of  all  his  correspondence  with  you.  .  .  .  He  continues  to 
evince  the  most  absurd,  groundless,  and  ridiculous  suspicions 
of  English  predominance.  .  .  .  With  respect  to  M.  Coletti, 
who  entertains  the  opinion  that  we  desire  to  make  an  English 
Pashalick  of  Greece,  I  can  only  say  that  he  does  his  country  a 
great  deal  too  much  honour.  Most  assuredly  I  would  not 
make  a  Pashalick  of  Greece,  if  I  could  ;  but  with  the  opinions 
expressed  by  M.  Piscatory,  I  confess  that  I  am  not  much 
surprised  at  the  sentiments  of  his  friend.  I  leave  M.  Coletti 
with  his  convictions.  As  they  excite  in  my  mind  no  feelings 
but  disdain,  I  shall  take  no  pains  to  undeceive  him.  Indeed, 
I  have  no  complaint  to  make  of  M.  Coletti ;  he  is  only 
labouring  in  his  vocation.  It  is  very  evident  that  from  the 
first  construction  of  M.  Mavrocordato's  ministry  he  has  employed 
every  means  to  accomplish  its  destruction.  But  in  a  Constitu- 
tional Government  M.  Coletti  had  a  perfect  right  to  make 
himself  Minister  if  he  could  ;  and  although  he  had  solemnly 
promised  M.  Mavrocordato  his  best  support,  this  is  a  question 
of  Greek  morals  upon  which  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  pro- 
nounce any  judgment.  The  only  part  of  this  transaction  which 
gives  me  any  real  uneasiness  is  the  evidence  it  affords  of  the 
improbability  that  our  good  understanding  should  lead  to  the 
results  we  both  desire.  .  .  .  All  those  who  opposed  the  Greek 
Revolution  would  be  delighted  to  see  Constitutional  Gbvern- 
ment  discredited  by  its  failure  in  Greece,  and  you  must  be 
aware  that  this  is  a  subject  of  hope  and  expectation  with  many  at 
this  moment.  I  would  willingly  prevent  this  result,  and  I  trust 
that  your  support  of  M.  Coletti  will  not  extend  to  any  such 
consequences.  Notwithstanding  our  mutual  confidence,  and 
the  object  which  above  all  others  we  have  in  view,  it  is  vain 
to  think  that  our  desires  and  endeavours  will  produce  any  good 
unless  our  agents  shall  really  act  in  the  spirit  of  the  instructions 
they  may  receive. 

.     M 


l62  LORD   ABERDEEN 

The  misunderstanding  at  Athens  was  vexatious,  but  the 
jealousy  of  the  French  and  English  ministers  in  Spain 
involved  far  graver  and  more  disastrous  consequences,  of 
which  indeed  the  indirect  results  are  not  yet  exhausted.  It 
led  to  the  destruction  of  that  cordial  understanding  between 
France  and  England,  which  Lord  Aberdeen  and  M.  Guizot 
had  with  such  pains  laboured  successfully  to  establish,  but 
which,  soon  after  Lord  Aberdeen's  retirement  from  office, 
was  put  an  end  to  by  what  were  known  as  the  '  Spanish 
Marriages'  of  1846  ;  a  misfortune,  for  which  the  discord  of 
the  agents  of  the  two  governments  at  Madrid  was  mainly 
responsible. 

The  true  history  of  that  once  famous  transaction  is  little 
known,  and  is  generally  altogether  misrepresented  and  mis- 
understood. 

Isabella  II.  of  Spain  was  placed,  while  yet  an  infant,  upon 
a  throne  her  right  of  succession  to  which  was  disputed. 
The  additional  strength  which  a  judicious  alliance  might 
give  to  her  cause  was  too  obvious  to  be  overlooked,  and 
projects  for  the  ultimate  disposal  of  her  hand  were  discussed 
from  almost  the  first  moment  of  her  accession. 

It  would  be  unnecessary  to  dwell  at  length  on  these  pro 
posals,  even  if  the  space  at  my  command  did  not  render  it 
impossible.  Louis  Philippe  had  refused  an  offer  to  betroth 
the  Queen  to  his  son,  the  Due  d'Aumale  ;  but  this  refusal 
was  conditional  on  her  marriage  to  some  other  member  of 
the  House  of  Bourbon,  and  the  consequent  maintenance  of 
the  succession  to  the  Crown  in  that  family.  In  1845,  on 
the  occasion  of  a  visit  made  by  Queen  Victoria  to  the 
Chateau  d'Eu,  an  important  assurance  was  given  by  tne 
King  and  M.  Guizot,  which  was  thus  described  by  Lord 
Aberdeen  in  a  letter  written  the  same  evening  to  Sir  Robert 
Peel  : 


SPANISH   MARRIAGES  163 

They  said  that,  having  promised  to  support  the  pretensions 
of  the  King  of  Naples,  they  were  bound  not  to  abandon  the 
Count  de  Trapani  so  long  as  there  was  a  chance  of  his  being 
successful  in  his  suit.  Both  the  -King  and  Guizot  said  they  had 
no  objection  to  the  Duke  of  Seville,  and  that,  if  it  should  be 
found  that  the  Count  de  Trapani  was  impossible,  they  would 
willingly  support  him.  With  respect  to  the  Infanta,  they  both 
declared  in  the  most  positive  and  explicit  manner  that,  until  the 
Queen  was  married  and  had  children^  they  should  consider  the 
Infanta  precisely  as  her  sister,  and  that  any  marriage  with  a 
French  Prince  previously  would  be  out  of  the  question.  The 
King  said  he  did  not  wish  that  his  son  should  have  the  prospect 
of  being  on  the  throne  of  Spain,  but  that,  if  the  Queen  had 
children,  by  whom  the  succession  would  be  secured,  he  did 
not  engage  to  preclude  himself  from  the  possibility  of  profit- 
ing by  the  great  inheritance  which  the  Infanta  would  bring 
his  son. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  thus  announcing  his 
intention  to  delay  the  proposed  marriage  of  his  son  with  the 
Infanta,  Louis  Philippe  never  abandoned,  or  in  any  way 
implied  that  he  abandoned,  the  condition  Avhich  he  had 
attached  to  his  renunciation  of  the  hand  of  Queen  Isabella 
for  one  of  his  own  sons.  That  condition  was,  that  the 
Crown  of  Spain  should  not  pass  out  of  the  House  of 
Bourbon,  as  it  would  do  in  the  event  of  the  Queen's  mar- 
riage to  a  prince  of  any  other  family,  and  the  succession  to 
the  throne  of  the  children  of  that  marriage.  Lord  Aberdeen 
deprecated  this  limitation  as  derogatory  to  the  independence 
of  the  Spanish  nation  and  disrespectful  to  the  Queen  of 
Spain.  But  he  was  quite  aware  that  the  withdrawal  of  the 
King's  sons  from  among  the  candidates  for  the  Crown 
matrimonial  of  Spain  was  contingent  on  the  observance  of 
this  condition,  and  that,  in  the  event  of  any  serious  pro- 
spect of  a  marriage  of  a  different  character,  the  King  would 
hold  himself  perfectly  free  to  permit  the  Duke  of  Mont- 
pensier  to  marry  at  once,  not  the  Infanta,  but  the  Queen 
herself. 

The  promise,  therefore,  made  by  the  King  was  really, 

M  2 


1 64  LORD   ABERDEEN 

that  the  marriage  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  with  the 

Infanta  should  not  take  place  until   Queen   Isabella  was 

married  to  a  member  of  the  House  of  Bourbon^  and   had 

children,  the  issue  of  such  a  marriage.     The  condition  was 

repeated  and  laid  down  in  writing  a  few  months  later  by 

the  French  Government.     In  a  memorandum  delivered  by 

M.  de  Ste.  Aulaire  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  on  February  27,  1846, 

it  is  explicitly  declared  that  : 

Si  le  mariage,  soit  de  la  Reine,  soil  de  1' Infante,  avec  le 
Prince  Leopold  de  Coburg,  ou  avec  tout  autre  Prince  etranger 
aux  descendans  de  Philippe  V,  devenait  probable  et  imminent 
.  .  .  dans  ce  cas  nous  serions  affranchis  de  tout  engagement, 
et  libres  d'agir  immddiatement  pour  parer  le  coup,  en  deman- 
dant la  main,  soit  de  la  Reine,  soit  de  1' Infante,  pour  M.  le  due 
de  Montpensier. 

Here  certainly  there  is  no  concealment.  The  preten- 
sion of  the  French  Government,  however  arrogant,  is  plainly 
enough  avowed.  And  if  the  marriage  of  the  Queen  of 
Spain,  or  of  her  sister,  with  Prince  Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg 
was  'probable and  imminent,'  the  French  Government  must 
stand  acquitted  of  any  breach  of  faith  in  disregarding  the 
conditional  engagement  of  the  Chateau  d'Eu,  however  much 
we  may,  from  other  points  of  view,  lament  and  condemn 
their  action  in  departing  from  it. 

The  real  question,  then,  so  far  as  the  accusation  of 
breach  of  faith  is  concerned,  is  :  '  Was  the  marriage  of 
Prince  Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg  with  the  Queen  of  Spain, 
or  the  Infanta  Fernanda  Luisa,  really  'probable  and  im- 
minent' in  the  month  of  August  1846?'  It  is,  I  think, 
impossible  to  deny  that  it  was  so. 

The  British  Minister  at  Madrid  at  this  time  was  Sir 
Henry  Bulwer,  a  very  able,  but  not  over-scrupulous  diplo- 
matist. On  his  return  to  Spain  in  the  autumn  of  1845,  ^^ 
was  enjoined  to  observe  an  entirely  passive  attitude  of  neu- 
trality with  regard  to  the  candidature  of  the  King  of  Naples' 


SPANISH   MARRIAGES  165 

brot^ier,  the  Count  of  Trapanijfor  the  Queen's  hand — a  candi- 
dature unpopular  in  Spain,  but  warmly  pressed  by  the  French 
Government.  This  neutrality  Bulwer  speedily  converted 
into  active  and  successful  opposition,  and  at  the  same  time 
pressed  on  Lord  Aberdeen  the  desirability  of  Prince  Leopold 
of  Saxe-Coburg  becoming  the  Queen's  husband.  During 
the  winter  he  continued  to  dwell  on  the  superiority  of  Prince 
Leopold  to  all  other  candidates,  and  concluded  one  of  his 
letters  on  the  subject  in  the  spring  of  1846  by  saying  : 

I  may  add  that  1  could  make  the  marriage  if  you  instructed 
me  to  do  so,  and  that  your  instructions  to  me  were  kept  secret. 

,^  On  May  7  th  Lord  Aberdeen  replied  : — 

^  Whatever  we  may  feel  towards  an  amiable  and  deserving 
young  Prince,  nearly  connected  with  our  own  Queen,  we  have 
really  no  political  interest  whatever  in  his  success.  On  the 
contrary,  I  can  easily  conceive  that  it  might  lead  to  much 
inconvenience,  notwithstanding  his  personal  merits  ;  for  it  is. 
probable  that  he  maybe  regarded  by  the  Spanish  Government  as' 
likely  to  receive  the  countenance  and  active  support  of  England, 
if  placed  in  the  situation  of  the  Queen's  husband.  Now,  I  have 
no  belief  whatever  that  such  would  be  the  case  ;  and,  even  if 
it  were,  it  could  only  lead  us  into  the  most  impolitic  and  em- 
barrassing engagements.  As  we  have  no  English  candidate, 
I  should  be  sorry  to  see  you  actively  engaged  in  the  support  of 
another,  be  he  who  he  may. 

Before  this  letter  could  reach  Bulwer,  he  had  lent  him- 
self to  a  palace  intrigue  at  Madrid,  which  resulted  in  the 
despatch  of  a  letter  from  the  Queen-mother  Christina  to  the 
Duke  of  Saxe-Coburg  Gotha,  then  at  Lisbon,  containing  an 
offer  of  her  daughter's  hand  to  Prince  Leopold,  a  letter 
certainly  revised,  if  not  dictated,  by  Bulwer  himself.  A  copy 
of  the  letter  was  forwarded  by  him  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  with  a 
sketch  of  the  plan  by  which  he  proposed  to  give  effect  to 
the  measure  contemplated.  A  change  of  ministry  was  to  be 
effected,  the  Cortes  summoned,  the  Queen's  marriage  with 
Count  Trapani  proposed  to  it  and  rejected,  marriage  with 


1 66  LORD  ABERDEEN 

Prince  Leopold  then  suggested,  approved,  and  celebrated  ; 
after  which  the  French  Government  was  to  be  informed  of 
X\\Qfatf  accotnpli,  and  the  intimation  softened  by  the  offer  of 
an  immediate  marriage  between  the  Infanta  and  the  Duke 
of  Montpensier. 

This  proceeding  of  Bulwer's  was  a  serious  departure 
from  the  passive  attitude  which  he  had  been  instructed  to 
maintain,  and,  what  was  worse,  it  was  a  secret  and  under- 
hand departure  from  it.  His  action  was  even  more  strongly 
condemned  by  Sir  Robert  Peel  than  by  Lord  Aberdeen,  who 
thus  replied  to  his  letter  : 

I  think  that  the  situation  in  which  you  have  been  placed 
with  regard  to  the  Spanish  marriage  is  liable  to  two  very  grave 
objections.  In  the  first  place,  I  think  that  we  shall  appear  to 
be  justly  liable  to  the  imputation  of  joining  in  an  intrigue, 
directed  against  the  policy  of  France,  to  promote  an  object  in 
which  we  have  no  real  interest,  and  at  the  expense  of  our  own 
good  faith.  Secondly,  if  the  marriage  of  Prince  Leopold  be, 
in  itself,  at  all  desirable,  I  think  your  position  is  most  unfor- 
tunate, as  the  success  of  the  project  could  only  be  injured  by 
the  appeal ance  of  any  English  interference  whatever. 

I  have  further  expressed  my  entire  disbelief  of  any  negotia- 
tion on  the  part  of  Prince  Leopold  being  in  progress  to  promote 
his  marriage  with  the  Queen,  and  have  given  the  most  positive  . 
assurances  that,  at  all  events,  the  English  Government  would 
take  no  part  in  such  a  project. 

I  have  felt  it  incumbent  on  me,  therefore,  at  once  to  inform 
the  French  Government  through  M.  Ste.  Aulaire  that  a  com- 
munication had  been  made  to  the  Duke  of  Saxe-Coburg  on 
this  subject,  and  also  that  you  had  been  cognisant  of  such  com- 
munication. I  added,  too,  that  you  had  acted  in  the  matter 
without  my  instructions,  and  entirely  without  my  knowledge, 
but  that  our  own  views  and  opinions  had  undergone  no  change. 

This  prompt  explanation  will  remove  an  unpleasant  impres- 
sion which  the  French  Government  might  have  received  from 
a  knowledge  of  the  transaction  which  they  could  not  have 
failed  very  shortly  to  obtain.  Depend  upon  it^  that^  as  you  have 
discovered  the  intrigue  of  Bresson,^  he  would  itievitably  have 
discovered  yours.  I  have  said  formerly  that  I  thought  Bresson 
had  behaved  ill,  and  that  we  had  not  been  treated  in  a  manner 
we  had  a  right  to  expect ;  but  I  repeat,  that  itLOS  not  for  us  to 

'  The  French  Ambassador  at  Madrid. 


SPANISH   MARRIAGES  1 67 

follow  this  example.  I  cannot  help  fearing  that  you  have  per- 
mitted yourself  imperceptibly  to  be  influenced  in  this  matter  by 
a  feeling  of  personal  resentment,  which,  although  not  unnatural, 
might  better  have  been  repressed. 

X.his,  then,  was  the  situation  of  affairs  at  the  time  of 
the  resignation  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  in  July  1846.  Even 
before  that  event  the  French  Court  and  Government  un- 
questionably felt  great  sensitiveness  and  alarm  as  to  the 
pretensions  of  Prince  Leopold.  Lord  Aberdeen  had  found 
it  scarcely  possible  to  prevent  some  fresh  outbreak  of  ap- 
prehension every  month  ;  and  it  was  only  probable  that 
yet  greater  uneasiness  would  be  felt  after  Lord  Aberdeen's 
retirement. 

Unfortunately,  Lord  Aberdeen's  policy  of  entire  open- 
ness towards  the  French  Government,  which  he  had  felt 
to  be  the  only  possible  mode  of  efficaciously  disarming 
suspicion,  was  not  adhered  to  by  his  successor.  On  the 
contrary,  the  most  extreme  reserve  was  resorted  to,  and 
instructions  were  sent  to  Bulwer,  without  any  previous  com- 
munication with  the  French  Government,  in  which,  without 
directly  advocating  them,  the  pretensions  of  Prince  Leopold 
were  not  unfavourably  spoken  of. 

The  French  Government,  however,  in  spite  of  suspicion, 
adhered  loyally  to  the  obligation  it  had  taken  upon  itself  to 
wait  for  the  birth  of  heirs  to  the  Spanish  Crown  before  the 
conclusion  of  the  marriage  of  the  Infanta  ;  but  a  hint  received 
by  M.  Guizot,  that  the  English  Government  was  endeavour- 
ing to  effect  her  marriage  in  the  meanwhile  to  some  other 
Prince,  induced  him  to  authorise  Count  Bresson,  in  case  of 
need,  to  declare  that,  so  soon  as  the  Queen's  marriage  was 
concluded,  he  would  be  ready  to  commence  negotiations 
for  the  eventual  marriage  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  with 
the  Infanta. 

The  hint  given  to  M.  Guizot  was  not  an  unfounded  one. 


l68  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Up  to  this  time  Bulwer,  when  advocating  the  marriage  of 
the  Queen  to  Prince  Leopold,  had  ahvays  coupled  it  with 
the  marriage  at  the  same  time  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier 
to  the  Infanta,  hoping  thus  to  overcome,  or  at  least 
diminish,  the  opposition  of  France.  But  a  new  prospect 
was  now  opened.  It  occurred  to  Lord  Palmerston  that 
the  delay  to  which  the  French  Government  was  pledged 
might  be  so  taken  advantage  of,  as  to  prevent  the  possibility 
of  the  Infanta's  union  at  any  time,  under  any  circumstances, 
with  the  Duke  of  Montpensier.  She  might  be  married  at 
once  to  some  one  else  ! 

In  a  series  of  letters  to  Bulwer,  Lord  Palmerston  urged 
him  to  effect  and  carry  out  at  once  the  double  marriage  of 
the  sisters  to  the  Duke  of  Seville  and  Prince  Leopold, 
leaving  it  a  matter  of  comparative  indifference  whether  the 
latter  married  the  Queen  or  the  Infanta.  Extracts  (at  least) 
from  these  letters  were  given  by  Bulwer  to  Queen  Christina, 
and  by  her  at  once  shown  to  the  French  Ambassador  at 
Madrid,  Count  Bresson. 

It  is  not  wonderful  that  the  effect  produced  at  the 
Tuileries  by  such  a  disclosure  was  electrical.  What  stung 
the  French  King  and  Royal  Family  far  more  than  even 
the  avowed  advocacy  of  a  Coburg  marriage  for  one  or  other 
of  the  sisters,  (which,  however,  in  itself  at  once  restored 
the  right  of  free  action  to  France),  was  the  discovery  that 
the  King's  voluntary  renunciation  of  all  attempts  to  effect 
the  Infanta's  marriage  to  his  son,  until  after  the  Queen  had 
borne  children,  had  been  made  use  of  to  promote  a  scheme 
designed  to  render  such  a  marriage  at  any  time,  and  in  any 
circumstances,  altogether  impossible. 

That  up  to  this  time  the  King  and  M.  Guizot,  in  spite 
of  doubts  and  suspicions,  had  been  sincere  in  their  adher- 
ence to  the  declaration  voluntarily  made  by  them  at  Eu,  is 


SPANISH   MARRIAGES  1 69 

proved  by  the  confidential  correspondence  between  them 
which  accident  has  since  given  to  the  world. 

The  King  and  M.  Guizot  had  in  their  hands  evidence 
of  Lord  Palmerston's  wishes,  and  of  the  imminent  proba- 
bility of  their  accomplishment,  if  they  hesitated  to  parer 
le  coup  in  the  manner  in  which  they  had  already  announced 
they  should,  in  such  case,  hold  themselves  free  to  do. 
Approval  of  the  double  marriage,  arranged  by  Queen 
Christina  and  M.  Bresson  the  moment  that  Lord  Palmer- 
ston's letters  were  communicated  to  the  latter,  was  con- 
sequently at  once  telegraphed  to  Madrid. 

The  evidence  obtained  as  to  the  proposals  of  Lord 
Palmerston  was  not  such  as  could  be  publicly  produced. 
The  French  Government  was  consequently  obliged  to 
seek  the  justification  of  its  action  in  Lord  Palmerston's 
public  despatches  and  utterances.  These,  though  sufficient, 
when  coupled  with  a  reserve  contrasting  harshly  with  the 
cordial  intimacy  of  intercourse  which  had  existed  with  his 
predecessor,  to  justify  some  suspicion,  were  altogether  in- 
sufficient to  prove  such  suspicion  to  be  well  founded. 
Read  by  the  light  of  the  private  letters  which  accompanied 
them,  we  may  now  perceive  that  M.  Guizot  was  not  far 
wrong  as  to  their  meaning  ;  but,  without  such  a  commentary, 
there  is  nothing  to  be  seen  in  them  which  is  inconsistent 
with  adherence  on  the  part  of  Lord  Palmerston  to  the 
policy  of  his  predecessor.  Even  those  critics  most  favour- 
able to  M.  Guizot  considered  the  grounds  publicly  alleged 
by  him  quite  inadequate  to  justify  the  abrupt  breach  of 
an  engagement  voluntarily  undertaken.  Lord  Aberdeen,  in 
writing  to  M.  Guizot,  frankly  told  him  *  that  the  corre- 
spondence on  which  he  relied  did  not  warrant   the   con- 

'  Lord   Aberdeen   to   M.  Guizot,  September    14,    1846.      Revue 
Retrospective^  p.  324. 


1^0  LORD  ABERDEEN 

elusions  he  had  drawn  from  it.  To  this  Lord  Aberdeen 
added  that  he  was  himself  confident  that  neither  directly 
nor  indirectly  had  any  proposition  on  behalf  of  Prince 
Leopold  received  the  slightest  encouragement  or  support 
from  this  country.  Lord  Aberdeen  was  mistaken  :  but  his 
belief  was  that  which  remained  for  many  years  the  belief  of 
every  one,  and  it  has  been  generally  accepted  as  one  of  the 
facts  of  history. 

The  publication  by  Lord  Bailing  of.  some  of  the  letters 
communicated  to  the  King  of  the  French  renders  them 
public  property,  and  removes  all  obligation  of  secrecy  with 
regard  to  their  contents.  With  these  letters  before  us,  it  is 
easy  to  perceive  how  different,  in  truth,  was  the  attitude  of 
the  two  successive  English  Secretaries  of  State. 

Lord  Aberdeen  enjoined  the  British  Minister  at  Madrid 
to  observe  perfect  neutrality,  and  avoid  all  appearance  of 
putting  forward  an  English  candidate  :  Lord  Palmerston 
eagerly  adopted  and  pressed  the  candidature  of  Doi^^Enrique 
(at  the  moment  an  impossible  one).  Lord  Aberdeen  left 
the  question  of  the  Infanta's  marriage  to  be  dealt  with  in 
the  future  :  Lord  Palmerston  bade  Bulwer  '  try  for '  an 
immediate  (and  apparently  secret)  betrothal  of  the  Infanta 
to  Prince  Leopold.  Lord  Aberdeen  regarded  the  marriage 
of  the  Queen  as  of  comparatively  small  importance— a  step 
which  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  little 
likely  to  influence  the  course  of  national  policy  :  Lord 
Palmerston  looked  on  the  marriage  of  either  of  the  daughters 
of  Christina  to  a  French  prince  'as  a  plain  and  public 
declaration  that  both  Spain  and  France  were  looking  forward 
to  a  combined  war  against  England  ! '  Lord  Aberdeen 
considered  the  marriage  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  to  the 
Infanta  as  in  certain  conditions  an  event  perfectly  harmless, 
and  as  a  step  to  which  in  no  case  formal  diplomatic  objec- 


SPANISH   MARRIAGES  I^I 

tion  could  be  taken.  ^  Lord  Palmerston  directed  the  Spanish 
Government  to  be  told  that  it  would  be  'a  measure  of 
contingent  hostility  to  England.'  Lord  Aberdeen  main- 
tained unreseiTed  communication  and  concert  with  the 
French  Government ;  Lord  Palmerston  pointedly  abstained 
from  any  communication  with  it  on  the  subject  of 'the 
Queen's  marriage.  Lord  Aberdeen  had  assured  the  French 
Ambassador  that  he  might  be  'perfectly  easy '  about  Prince 
Leopold  ;  that  there  was  no  more  chance  of  his  marrying 
the  Queen  of  Spain  than  of  Lord  Aberdeen  himself  doing 
so,  and  that  'the  English  Government  would  take  no  part 
in  such  a  project.^  Lord  Palmerston,  though  preferring 
that  Don  Enrique  should  marry  the  elder,  and  Prince 
Leopold  the  younger  sister,  assured  the  Spanish  Government 
that  he  would  support  the  marriage  of  the  Queen  to  Prince 
Leopold,  if  resolved  on  ;  and  ordered  Bulwer  to  '  try  for  it ' 
as  'the  next  best  thing,'  if  the  plan  for  the  marriage  of 
Don  Enrique  to  the  Queen  and  of  Prince  Leopold  to  the 
Infanta  failed.  Lastly,  Louis  Philippe  having  engaged  for 
a  certain  time  to  delay  the  marriage  of  his  son,  it  never 
entered  into  the  heads  of  Lord  Aberdeen  or  Sir  Robert 
Pp  ^j  to  use  that  time  in  negotiations,  kept  secret  from  the 
P'-  ench  Government,  for  at  once  bestowing  the  hand  of  the 
ottanta  on  another  man  ;  nor  am  I  inclined  to  think  that 
they  would  have  considered  such    negotiations   consistent 

'  '  A  short  time  ago  it  was  universally  understood  and  believed  that 
the  marriage  of  the  Due  de  Montpensier  with  the  Infanta  was  quite 
settled,  and  would  take  place  without  delay.  Had  this  been  the  case, 
I  do  not  know  what  we  could  have  done  to  prevent  it.  We  might  with 
good  reason  have  been  displeased  with  the  King,  but  we  could  not  really 
have  opposed  the  marriage,  or  make  any  valid  objection  to  it.  Still 
less  could  we  have  treated  it  as  a  question  of  European  interest,  and 
have  attempted  to  enlist  the  Great  Powers  in  any  co-operation  to  defeat 
it.' — Lord  Aberdeen  to  Sir  R.  Peel,  October  8,  1845.  Aberdeen 
MSS. 


1/2  LORD   ABERDEEN 

with  their  own  dignity  and  self-respect,  or  with  their  honour- 
able obligations  towards  King  Louis  Philippe. 

On  an  impartial  review  of  the  whole  transaction  it  must, 
I  think,  be  admitted — (i)  that  the  engagement  entered  into 
at  Eu  was  avowedly  a  conditional  one  ;  (2)  that  full  and 
fair  notice  of  the  consequences  of  a  breach  of  its  conditions 
was  given  ;  and  (3)  that  in  August  1846  the  marriage  of 
Prince  Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg  to  the  Queen  of  Spain  or 
her  sister  was  'probable  and  imminent.'  No  charge  of 
breach  of  faith,  therefore,  can  justly  be  preferred  against 
M.  Guizot  and  the  King.  Nevertheless,  the  course  taken 
by  the  French  Government  must  be  deplored,  and  may  be 
censured.  The  friendship  of  England  was  worth  more  to 
Louis  Philippe  than  the  dowry  of  the  Infanta. 

To  the  even  more  serious  charge  that  the  marriage 
actually  effected  was  designed  to  secure  the  succession  of  the 
Infanta  to  the  throne,  it  is  in  itself  almost  a  sufficient  answer 
to  reply  that  the  choice  of  the  Duke  of  Cadiz  as  the  Queen's 
husband  was  the  result  of  no  deliberate  selection  on  the 
part  of  Louis  Philippe.  On  the  contrary,  both  he  and  the 
Queen  of  the  French  had  set  their  hearts  on  the  marriage 
of  Queen  Isabella  with  the  Count  of  Trapani,  Queen  Marie 
Amelie's  nephew. 

Up  to  the  month  of  May  1846  this  marriage  was  st^^P 
thought  possible  by  the  French  Government,  and  even  after 
the  hope  of  effecting  it  had  been  reluctantly  abandoned, 
every  passing  chance  which  appeared  to  offer  any  possi- 
bility of  reviving  the  plan  was  eagerly  caught  at  by  the 
French  King,  even  up  to  so  late  a  period  as  a  month 
before  the  arrangement  of  the  marriage  which  actually  took 
place.' 

'  *  Je  crois  qu'il  faut  s'efForcer  de  relever  Trapani.' — Louis  Philippe 
to  M.  Guizot,  July  26,  1846.     Revue  Retrospective,  p.  187. 


ABERDEEN    AND   GUIZOT  173 

But  when  the  candidature  of  the  Count  of  Trapani  be- 
came impossible,  of  all  the  living  descendants  of  Philip  V., 
the  two  sons  of  Don  Francisco  alone  remained  unmar- 
ried and  in  a  position  enabling  them  to  pretend  to  the 
Queen's  hand  ;  and  of  these  two,  the  rash  folly  of  the  Duke 
of  Seville  rendered  the  Duke  of  Cadiz  the  only  available 
candidate. 

It  is  unfair  to  attribute  to  the  deeply-laid  machinations 
of  the  King  and  M.  Guizot  a  result  due  mainly  to  Bulwer's 
opposition  in  one  case,  and  to  Don  Enrique's  folly  in  another. 
It  is  equally  unfair  to  assume  that  a  candidate,  whose  pre- 
tensions were  only  seriously  entertained  at  the  last  moment, 
and  whose  success  involved  the  disappointment  of  the 
cherished  wishes  of  the  French  Royal  Family  with  regard 
to  the  Count  of  Trapani,  was  the  candidate  whom  the  King 
and  Guizot  had  all  along  marked  out  as  the  man  of  their 
choice. 

In  the  autumn  of  1844  Louis  Philippe,  accompanied 
by  M.  Guizot,  returned  at  Windsor  a  visit  which  the 
^Queen  had  paid  him  in  the  previous  year  at  the  Chateau 
diEu.  During  that  visit  Lord  Aberdeen  and  M.  Guizot 
were  in  constant  intercourse,  and  from  that  time  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say,  as  Mr.  Walpole  has  done  in  his  '  History 
of  England,'  that  they  were  '  not  friends  but  colleagues.' 
Each  was  in  the  habit  of  showing  to  the  other  not  merel]^ 
the  official  despatches  which  he  addressed  to  his  sub- 
ordinates, but  also  the  private  letters  by  which  they  were 
accompanied.  Each  consuked  the  other's  wishes  and  sus- 
ceptibilities as  far  as  possible,  and  I  fully  believe  that  this 
was  quite  as  largely  and  as  sincerely  done  by  M.  Guizot  as 
by  Lord  Aberdeen. 

Lord  Aberdeen  had  his  way  with  regard  to  the  French 
alliance,   but   his  difficulties  were    neither    few    nor  small. 


174  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Public  opinion  in  England  remained  hostile  to  France,  jealous 
of  her  position,  and  suspicious  of  her  acts.  Not  only  did 
the  Opposition  clamour,  as  every  Opposition  has  clamoured, 
as  to  the  undue  deference  shown  to  a  foreign  power,  but 
even  Lord  Aberdeen's  own  colleagues  were  full  of  distrust. 
Suspicions  which  from  the  first  had  been  expressed  by  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  to  whom  friendship  with  France  was 
distasteful  and  seemed  unnatural,  extended  to  other  members 
of  the  Government.  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  Sir  James  Graham 
invariably  put  the  worst  construction  on  every  act  of  the 
French  Government,  and  sought  to  find  in  it  evidence  of 
covert  hostility.  Before  his  death.  Sir  Robert  Peel  did  full 
justice  to  Guizot ;  and  Sir  James  Graham,  in  later  years, 
regretted  and  smiled  at  the  groundless  fears  with  which 
he  had  disturbed  Lord  Aberdeen's  course.  But  this  was 
long  after  the  period  of  which  I  am  now  treating.  Neither 
Peel  nor  Graham  had  that  power  of  putting  himself  in 
another's  place,  and  seeing  matters  with  another's  eyes, 
which  Lord  Aberdeen  instinctively  possessed.  Each  would 
in  words  have  admitted  that  the  first  duty  of  every  Minister 
was  that  which  he  owed  to  his  own  country,  but  they 
habitually  reasoned  as  though  the  interests  of  England 
ought  to  be  the  first  consideration,  not  only  with  English 
statesmen,  but  with  those  of  foreign  countries  also,  and  that 
we  were  entitled  to  consider  ourselves  wronged  when  this 
was  not  the  case. 

Lord  Aberdeen  saw  with  alarm  the  growing  divergence 
of  opinion  between  himself  and  other  members  of  the 
Cabinet  on  the  subject  of  our  relations  with  France ;  and 
on  September  28,  1845,  he  wrote  as  follows  to  Sir  Robert 
Peel  : 

Graham  has  assured  nie  that  his  own  views,  with  respect  to 
our  relations  with  France,  have  recently  undergone  an  entire 
change;  and  such,  I  perceive,  is  also  the  case  with  yourself. 


LETTER  TO   PEEL  1 75 

A  policy  of  friendship  and  confidence  has  been  converted  into 
a  policy  of  hostility  and  distrust. 

This  change  will,  of  course,  justify  and  call  for  a  corre- 
sponding change  in  the  character  of  the  measures  adopted  by  us ; 
and  although,  from  the  prudence  and  caution  with  which  you 
will  act,  it  is  possible  that  I  may  feel  no  great  objection  to 
these  measures  when  proposed,  I  cannot  too  strongly  express 
my  dissent  from  the  spirit  and  motives  by  which  they  will  have 
been  suggested.  It  is  my  deliberate  and  firm  conviction  that 
there  is  less  reason  to  distrust  the  French  Government,  and  to 
doubt  the  continuance  of  peace,  at  the  present  moment,  than 
there  was  four  years  ago,  when  your  administration  was  first 
formed ;  and  I  cannot  perceive  the  slightest  ground  for  any 
change  in  the  policy  which  at  that  time  it  was  thought  wise 
to  pursue.  I  fully  admit  that,  in  spite  of  all  calculation,  it  is 
possible  that  Avar  may  suddenly,  and  when  least  expected,  take 
place.  It  is  also  certain  that,  sooner  or  later,  this  calamity 
must  fall  upon  us.  Every  reasonable  degree  of  preparation, 
therefore,  for  such  a  contingency  is  justifiable,  and  even 
necessary ;  but  the  character  of  the  measures  adopted  will,  of 
course,  depend  upon  the  greater  or  less  amount  of  apprehension 
under  which  we  act.  For  my  own  part,  I  would  never  for  an 
instant  forget  the  possibility  of  war,  and  would  make  all  reason- 
able provision  accordingly  ;  but  I  would  continue  to  live  under 
the  conviction  of  the  greater  probability  of  peace. 

It  seems  to  me  that  we  are  now  acting  under  the  influence 
of  a  panic,  both  with  respect  to  the  intentions  of  France  and 
our  own  real  condition,  and  that  such  a  course  of  conduct  has 
a  direct  tendency  to  produce  the  very  evil  which  it  is  intended 
to  avert. 

The  preparation  of  our  '  advanced  ships '  has  not  quite  the 
same  character ;  and  I  am  informed  that  there  has  been 
more  activity  in  this  respect  during  the  last  six  months  than 
for  the  three  preceding  years.  If  it  be  true,  as  I  have  been 
told,  that  the  ships  have  actually  got  their  water  on  boards  I 
should  be  disposed  to  regard  it  as  the  evidence  of  childish 
restlessness  ;  but  our  neighbours  may  draw  other  inferences, 
and  give  us  credit  for  more  serious  intentions  than  we  probably 
entertain. 

A  suggestion  has  lately  been  made  to  me  from  the  Admiralty 
respecting  the  recall  of  the  Penelope  and  one  or  two  other 
steamers  from  the  coast  of  Africa.  If  it  be  intended  to  substi- 
tute other  steam  vessels  of  less  size  and  more  speed,  there  can 
be  no  objection  ;  but  you  must  be  aware  that  I  could  not  agree 
to  interfere  with  the  success  of  the  great  experiment  which  is 
now  in  progress  in  that  part  of  the  world,  without  a  little  more 
evidence  of  danger  at  home  than  I  have  hitherto  been  able  to 
perceive. 


176  LORD   ABERDEEN 

I  have  said,  however,  that  it  is  not  very  Hkely  that  measures 
should  be  proposed  in  which  it  would  be  impossible  for  me 
to  concur  ;  but  whether  this  be  the  case  or  not,  the  spirit 
and  feeling  with  respect  to  France  are  so  different  from  mine, 
and  everything  is  looked  at  in  such  a  different  point  of  view, 
that  it  is  difficult  not  to  anticipate  some  unpleasant  conse- 
quences. 

A  trifling  matter  of  recent  occurrence  will  explain  how 
extensively,  and  in  what  manner,  this  difference  of  feeling 
operates.  The  visit  of  the  Prince  de  Joinville  to  examine  the 
injuries  sustained  by  the  new  floating  breakwater  at  Brighton, 
and  of  which  as  a  scientific  work  he  spoke  to  me  with  much 
interest,  appeared  to  me  to  be  not  only  innocent  but  laudable. 
I  find,  however,  that  this  visit  is  considered  here  as  an  event 
of  political  importance,  and  a  serious  offence  on  the  part  of  the 
Prince  ! 

Under  all  the  circumstances  to  which  I  have  referred,  and 
the  apprehensions  I  entertain,  it  is  my  belief  that  it  will  be  the 
safest  course  for  you  to  allow  me  now  to  retire  from  the  Govern- 
ment. No  difference  as  yet  has  taken  place,  and  none  what- 
ever is  expected.  It  is  well  known  to  my  friends  and  connec- 
tions that  office  is  not  only  irksome  to  me,  but  that  considera- 
tions of  health  have  more  than  once  pretty  urgently  called  for 
this  proceeding.  No  other  motive  will  be  assigned,  and  it  will 
be  the  more  easy  to  sanction  this,  as  I  have  no  wish  ever  to 
enter  the  House  of  Lords  again. 

I  am  very  sensible  that  this  change  would  expose  you  to 
some  inconvenience  ;  and  I  do  not  deny  that  at  the  present 
moment,  from  various  causes,  it  is  probable  that  there  may 
be  no  person  altogether  so  acceptable  to  the  Great  Powers  of 
Europe  as  myself  But  this  is  merely  temporary,  and  I  can 
contemplate  more  than  one  mode  of  arrangement  which  would 
leave  you  little  reason  to  complain.  At  all  events,  the  danger 
of  any  difference  of  opinion  would  be  removed,  which,  if  it 
should  unfortunately  occur,  could  scarcely  fail  to  lead  to  the 
most  serious  mischief 

Sir  Robert  replied  that  whatever  motive  Lord  Aberdeen 

might   assign  for   his   resignation,  the   real   reason  would 

assuredly  leak  out,  and  that  with  the  most  disastrous  results ; 

that  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  he  could  not  be  replaced  ; 

and  that,  even  if  these  objections  to  his  resignation  did  not 

exist,  the  personal  loss  to  himself  would  be  '  irreparable  ; ' 

adding  a  postscript  to  the  letter  in  terms  of  affection  such 

as  he  seldom  used. 


RELATIONS  WITH   FRANCE  1 77 

Lord  Aberdeen  remained  in  office,  and  from  this  time 
the  alarmists  in  the  Cabinet  at  least  held  their  peace,  but 
Lord  Aberdeen  was  by  no  means  easy  as  to  the  effects  which 
might  be  produced  by  their  sentiments.  In  sending  for 
Peel's  perusal  a  letter  which  he  had  received  from  M. 
Guizot,  he  had  said  that  he  was  glad  to  perceive  that  Guizot 
agreed  with  him  in  the  opinion  which  he  had  long  enter- 
tained and  frequently  expressed,  that  the  old  maxim  of 
preparing  for  war  in  order  to  preserve  peace  was  entirely 
inapplicable  to  the  condition  of  Great  Powers,  and  to  the 
political  system  of  modern  times,  and  the  present  state  of 
society. 

The  nature  of  Peel's  reply  will  be  perceived  from  Loi^d 
Aberdeen's  rejoinder  : 

I  fully  subscribe  to  the  general  truth  of  your  description  of 
the  past  and  present  state  of  France,  and  of  the  French  people 
and  Government  ;  but  was  not  all  this  well  known  four  years 
ago  ?  France  then,  as  now,  had  an  army  of  350,000  men,  the 
fortifications  of  Paris  were  then  in  progress,  and  revolutionary 
changes  of  every  kind  had  already  taken  place.  Nevertheless 
we  thought  it  possible  not  only  to  remain  at  peace  with  France, 
but  to  live  and  act  with  her  in  the  spirit  of  peace  and  friendship. 
Our  policy  is  now  changed,  and  every  newspaper  is  filled  with 
the  account  of  our  hostile  preparations.  We  still  talk  of  peace, 
having  war  in  our  hearts.  I  confess  that  I  regret  this  recent 
and  great  change,  for  which  I  see  no  good  reason  ;  and  I  regret 
it  the  more,  and  indeed  chiefly,  because  it  is  but  too  probable 
that  it  may  lead  to  the  very  consequences  we  most  desire  to 
avoid.  I  trust  the  chance  of  war  is  still  very  remote,  but  I  am 
by  no  means  of  opinion  that  it  is  more  so  now  than  it  was  three 
months  ago. 

I  do  not  conceive  the  possibility  of  our  intercourse  witl5 
foreign  Powers  being  at  all  practically  affected  by  the  state  or 
our  preparations.  If  a  knowledge  of  the  wealth,  activity^ 
patriotism,  and  courage  of  the  people  cannot  give  us  all  the 
confidence  we  need  on  such  occasions,  it  is  not  more  batteries 
and  guns  in  position,  or  ships  of  war  more  or  less  advanced, 
that  will  do  it. 

But  if,  with  the  exceptions  mentioned,  no  question  arose 
during  Lord   Aberdeen's   ministry  to  disturb  the  serenity 

N 


178  LORD  ABERDEEN      ^ 

of  the  relations  existing  between  Great  Britain  and  other 
European  Powers,  it  was  otherwise  in  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere. On  his  accession  to  office,  Lord  Aberdeen  found 
the  relations  between  the  United  States  and  England  in  a 
very  critical  condition.  One  cause  of  peril  was  removed 
by  the  acquittal  of  M'Leod,  an  English  subject,  who  had 
been  arrested  and  tried  for  murder  on  account  of  the  share 
he  had  taken  in  the  capture  and  destruction  of  the  steamer 
Caroline  during  the  Canadian  rebellion  of  1838,  and 
whose  execution  it  would  have  been  impossible  not  to 
resent  in  a  manner  which  would  certainly  have  involved 
the  two  countries  in  war.  But  the  irritation  caused  by 
this  incident  rendered  the  existence  of  other  matters  in 
dispute  more  dangerous  and  their  discussion  more  difficult. 
The  long-standing  difference  as  to  the  North-East  B^oundary 
between  the  United  States  and  the  British  Provinces  might 
at  any  time,  through  some  quarrel  between  English  and 
American  settlers  on  the  spot,  bring  the  two  nations  into  an 
attitude  of  active  hostility  from  which,  neither  could  recede. 
So,  too,  the  right  of  visiting  vessels  on  the  high  seas  to 
ascertain  their  nationality,  assumed  by  cruisers  engaged  in 
the  suppression  of  the  Slave  Trade,  and  which  formed  the 
subject  of  some  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  earliest  and  ablest 
papers  after  his  return  to  office,  might  at  any  moment  lead 
to  a  collision  which,  in  the  existing  temper  of  the  two 
countries,  could  only  end  in  war.  To  add  to  the  embarrass- 
ment of  the  situation,  the  British  Minister  in  Washington, 
though  not  without  ability,  was  not  only  one  of  the  most 
indolent  of  men,  spending  the  greater  part  of  his  time  in 
bed,  but  had  rendered  himself  socially  unpopular  in  the 
highest  degree.  In  these  circumstances  Lord  Aberdeen 
determined  to  send  a  special  mission  to  America,  and 
entrusted  it  to  Lord  Ashburton,  who,  as  the  head  of  the 


THE    ASHBURTON   TREATY  1 79 

great  house  of  Baring,  was  nearly  as  much  interested  in 
the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  United  States  as  in  that  of 
Great  Britain.  He  did  his  work  well,  and  removed  all 
danger  of  war  by  the  agreement  he  made  with  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  as  to  the  suppression  of  the 
Slave  Trade,  and  the  compromise  by  which  the  disputed 
territory  on  the  north-eastern  frontier  was  divided.  That 
compromise  was  bitterly  attacked  by  Lord  Palmerston,  but 
without  much  popular  effect,  for  it  was  generally  felt  that 
any  obstinate  insistence  on  all  to  which  England  had  a  claim 
must  inevitably  have  led  to  war,  and  that  peace  was  well 
worth  purchasing  at  the  price  of  a  tract  of  barren  pine 
swamp.  The  attack  was  felt  to  be  one  made  for  party 
purposes,  and  would  have  been  yet  more  fully  recognised  as 
such  had  it  been  generally  known  that  the  compromise 
adopted  was  substantially  one  which  Lord  Palmerston  him- 
self had  ten  years  previously  suggested. 

The  serious  character  of  the  questions  involved  in  the 
settlement  of  the  North-East  Boundary  threw  all  other 
boundary  disputes  into  the  shade.  There  were,  however, 
two  others — one  of  trivial  importance,  relating  to  the 
boundary  immediately  to  the  west  of  Lake  Superior,  which 
was  easily  settled  by  Lord  Ashburton  ;  and  a  second,  of  far 
more  consequence,  as  to  the  possession  of  the  region  watered 
by  the  Columbia  River.  But  this  question,  which  was 
involved  in  a  good  deal  of  difficulty,  and  the  settlement  of 
which  required  investigation  and  research,  did  not  at  that 
time  cause  any  irritation,  and  was  not  regarded  as  a  source 
of  danger  to  the  relations  of  the  two  countries.  It  would 
have  taken  time  to  settle  it,  and  Lord  Ashburton  was  eager 
to  return  to  England  before  the  autumnal  gales  made  the 
passage  of  the  Atlantic  formidable  to  a  landsman.  He 
therefore  left  tl}^fc*««egst«liai;j^to  be  carried  on  through  the 

N  2, 


l8o  LORD  ABERDEEN 

ordinary  channels  of  diplomatic  intercourse— an  unfor- 
tunate resolution  ;  for  had  he  remained,  he  would  almost 
certainly  have  settled  the  dispute  on  terms  more  favourable 
than  those  ultimately  agreed  on,  and  would  have  saved 
the  irritation  of  the  following  years,  which  in  1845  1^^  the 
two  countries  to  the  brink  of  war.  The  country,  which  in 
1842  was  an  empty  waste,  had,  three  years  later,  become 
the  resort  of  settlers.  An  offer  made  by  Lord  Aberdeen  to 
refer  the  questions  in  dispute  to  arbitration  was  refused  by 
the  United  States  ;  and  President  Polk,  in  a  message  to  the 
Congress,  not  only  claimed  the  whole  of  the  debatable  terri- 
tory as  belonging  to  the  United  States,  whose  rights  to  it 
were,  he  said,  '  clear  and  unquestionable,'  but  threatened 
to  take  active  measures  to  give  effect  to  this  exclusive  claim. 
This  would  have  been  equivalent  to  hostilities  with  England. 
*  We  too,  my  lords,'  exclaimed  Lord  Aberdeen  amid  the 
cheers  of  the  House  of  Lords,  '  have  rights  which  are  "  clear 
and  unquestionable,"  and  these  rights,  with  the  blessing  of 
God  and  your  support,  we  are  fully  prepared  to  maintain.' 
But  while  ready  to  fight  rather  than  yield  to  pretentions 
wholly  unreasonable,  Lord  Aberdeen  was  equally  deter- 
mined to  make  a  last  effort  to  avert  the  incalculable  evils  of 
war.  He  prepared  a  scheme  of  reasonable  compromise, 
which  was  at  the  same  time  in  fact,  though  not  in  form,  an 
ultimatum.  As  such,  it  was  purposely  framed  in  the  most 
liberal  spirit. 

I  am  not  disposed  (he  wrote)  to  weigh  very  minutely  the 
precise  amount  of  compensation  or  equivalents  which  may  be 
received  by  either  party  in  the  course  of  this  negotiation,  but 
am  content  to  leave  such  estimate  to  be  made  by  a  reference 
to  higher  considerations  than  the  mere  balance  of  territorial 
loss  or  gain.  We  have  sought  peace  in  the  spirit  of  peace  ; 
and  we  have  acted  in  the  persuasion  that  it  would  be  cheaply 
purchased  by  both  countries  at  the  expense  of  any  sacrifice 
which  should  not  tarnish  the  honour  or  affect  the  essential 
interests  of  either. 


THE   OREGON    TREATY  l8l 

The  proposed  convention  was  accepted  and  signed  by 
the  American  Government,  and  ratified  by  the  Senate, 
without  the  alteration  of  a  single  word.  Lord  Aberdeen 
was  assured  by  Mr.  Pakenham,  the  English  Minister  at 
Washington,  by  the  United  States  Minister  in  London,  and 
by  Mr.  Everett  and  other  friends  in  the  United  States,  that 
this  ready  acquiescence  was  mainly  due  to  the  apprehension 
that  Lord  Aberdeen  was  about  to  be  replaced  at  the  Foreign 
Office  by  a  statesman,  discussion  with  whom,  it  was  believed, 
would  make  it  difficult  to  maintain  friendly  relations  between 
the  two  countries.  It  was  anticipated  that  Lord  Palmerston 
would  not  offer,  or  accept,  similar  terms,  although  the  hope 
of  peace  depended  on  their  being  such  as  could  be  safely 
presented  to  the  American  people  ;  while  it  was  urged  that, 
even  if  he  did  so,  it  would  be  in  a  tone  and  manner  likely 
to  excite  such  irritation  as  would  render  their  acceptance  in 
the  United  States  all  but  impracticable. 

The  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  Senate  as  drafted  by 
Lord  Aberdeen,  and  against  its  provisions  no  murmur  of 
objection  was  ever  raised.  He  was  able  to  announce  its 
conclusion  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  the  same  day  that  the 
resignation  of  Sir  Robert  Peel's  Government  was  communi- 
cated to  it. 

Of  the  gravity  of  these  questions  all  the  world  is 
cognisant,  but  few  are  aware  how  seriously  the  relations 
between  the  United  States  and  England  were  imperilled 
by  their  mutual  attitude  towards  a  state,  the  ephemeral 
existence  of  which  as  an  independent  Republic  has  well- 
nigh  been  forgotten. 

About  1839  the  territory  of  the  Mexican  Republic  was 
invaded  by  bands  of  American  citizens,  who,  establishing 
themselves  in  the  fertile  plains  between  the  Rio  Colorado 
and  the  Rio  Bravo  del  Norte,  assumed  the  sovereignty  of 


1 82  LORD   ABERDEEN 

the  territory  they  occupied,  and  successfully  resisted  the 
efforts  of  the  Mexican  Government  to  expel  them.  They 
formed,  under  the  name  of  Texas,  an  independent  Republic, 
of  which  they  established  the  capital  at  Austin,  and  the 
port  of  which,  Galveston,  soon  assumed  considerable  im- 
portance. 

It  was  clear  enough  that,  if  Mexico  persisted  in  trying  to 
subjugate  the  infant  state,  Texas  would  seek  and  would 
receive  protection  and  support  from  the  United  States,  and 
that  a  collision  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States  would 
thus  occur,  in  which,  if  unassisted,  the  former  must  neces- 
sarily be  worsted.  The  like  result  would  ensue  if  Texas 
sought  admission  into  the  United  States,  and  its  absorption 
into  them  was  permitted  by  the  Cabinet  at  Washington 
before  its  independence  was  recognised  by  Mexico.  The 
independence  of  Texas  had  been  acknowledged  by  the 
United  States,  by  France,  and  by  England;  but  the  two 
latter  powers  were  by  no  means  desirous  either  to  see  Texas 
annexed  to  the  United  States  or  the  power  of  the  great 
northern  Republic  extended  over  Mexico,  as  it  would  be  by 
a  successful  war.  They  therefore  took  every  possible  step  to 
induce  the  Mexican  Government  to  recognise  the  independ- 
ence of  Texas,  but  in  vain.  Meanwhile,  although  annexa- 
tion was  in  some  quarters  desired,  a  majority  of  the  Texan 
people  desired  to  maintain  the  independence  they  had 
acquired.  Missions  were  despatched  from  Texas  to  England 
and  France  to  secure  the  support  of  these  Powers.  Their 
goodwill  was  easily  obtained  ;  but  the  recognition  of  Texas 
by  Mexico,  and  the  signature  of  a  treaty  pledging  Texas  to 
maintain  its  independence,  were  insisted  on  as  preliminaries 
to  any  more  substantial  aid.  The  latter  condition  was 
readily  complied  with,  but  no  efforts  on  the  part  of  the 
English  and  French  Ministers  were  sufficient  to  induce  the 


MEXICAN   OFFERS  183 

Mexican  Government  to  admit  the  independence  of  Texas, 
and  it  is  not  impossible  that  we  may  have  to  thank  the 
obstinacy  of  Mexico  for  having  averted  war  between  the 
United  States  and  England.  When,  somewhat  later,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  annexation  of  Texas,  war  between  Mexico 
and  the  United  States  became  imminent,  the  Mexican 
Government  offered  practically  to  cede  the  province  of 
California,  which  it  could  not  defend,  to  Great  Britain. 
This  was  to  be  effected  by  the  grant  of  exclusive  privileges 
to  British  subjects  and  settlers,  amounting  to  a  virtual  ces- 
sion. Lord  Ellenborough,  then  at  the  Admiralty,  strongly 
urged  on  Lord  Aberdeen  the  advantages  to  be  gained 
from  the  acquisition  of  the  site  of  what  is  now  San 
Francisco. 

Look  at  the  chart  (he  wrote);  you  will  see  that  it  is  not  only 
the  finest  harbour,  but  the  most  easily  defended,  really  un- 
attackable  from  the  land  side,  and  therefore  as  good  as  an 
island,  while  towards  the  sea  it  has  facilities  of  defence  which 
are  hardly  to  be  found  anywhere,  unless  at  Malta  and  Corfu. 
When  we  are  about  it,  let  us  obtain  possession,  while  we  can, 
of  the  key  of  the  north-west  coast  of  America. 

Nor  was  Sir  Robert  Peel  wholly  undazzled  by  the  pro- 
spect. Lord  Aberdeen,  however,  maintained  that  although, 
had  the  interest  already  existed,  it  would  be  right  to 
maintain  it,  its  establishment  at  such  a  moment,  and  in  such 
a  manner,  would  be  little  less  hostile  than  a  declaration  by 
England  and  France  that  they  would  not  permit  the  con- 
quest of  California,  which  would  virtually  be  a  declaration 
of  war  against  the  United  States.  But  even  this  he  would 
prefer  to  the  creation  of  an  unreal  interest  for  political  pur- 
poses. The  grant  might  create  a  very  pretty  quarrel,  but  no 
amount  of  privileges  bestowed  by  Mexico  would  suffice  to 
keep  out  American  settlers,  who  would  probably  be  too 
powerful  for  the  English.  But,  above  all,  while  the  Oregon 
question  was  still  capable  of  a  peaceful  settlement,  he  depre- 


1 84  LORD   ABERDEEN 

cated  a  measure  which  would  practically  render  such  a 
settlement  impossible.  Should  the  negotiation  respecting 
it  end  in  war,  the  offers  of  Mexico  should  be  at  once 
accepted,  and  the  active  co-operation  of  Mexican  forces  on 
the  south-west  frontier  of  the  United  States  encouraged  as  a 
formidable  diversion  of  the  American  forces.  It  is  curious 
now  to  speculate  on  what  might  have  been  the  possible 
results  of  the  establishment  of  British  authority  over  San 
Francisco. 

Speculation  as  to  what  might  have  been,  had  Lord 
Aberdeen's  action  been  different  from  what  it  was  with 
regard  to  another  matter  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  is  also 
suggested  by  the  fact  that,  after  his  escape  from  Ham,  Prince 
Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte  wrote  to  Lord  Aberdeen  that  he 
had  received  offers  of  a  species  of  dictatorship  in  Venezuela, 
and  that  his  acceptance  or  refusal  of  the  proposal  would 
depend  upon  the  support  which  his  enterprise  would  receive 
from  the  British  Government.  Lord  Aberdeen  at  that  time 
only  saw  in  the  future  Emperor  the  adventurer  of  Strasburg 
and  Boulogne,  and  discouraged  the  idea.  Ten  years  later 
he  regretted  that  he  had  done  so. 

It  was  not  only  in  North  America  that  English  diplomacy 
had  difficulties  to  encounter.  In  South  America  also  the 
British  Cabinet  deemed  it  requisite  to  assert  itself  in  a 
peremptory  manner,  and  to  adopt  very  decided  action.  The 
treaty  with  Brazil,  concluded  for  a  term  of  years,  by  virtue 
of  which  Brazilian  vessels  engaged  in  the  Slave  Trade  were 
made  liable  to  seizure  by  British  cruisers,  having  expired 
without  renewal,  Lord  Aberdeen  introduced,  and  persuaded 
the  British  Parliament  to  adopt,  an  Act  authorising  the 
naval  forces  engaged  in  the  suppression  of  the  Slave  Trade 
to  continue  to  proceed  in  exactly  the  same  manner  as  if  the 
treaty  had  remained  in  force — a  high-handed  measure  which 


FREE   TRADE  I 85 

it  is  not  easy  to  justify,  and  the  proposal  of  which  in  the 
present  day  would  be  impossible. 

In  the  River  Plate,  an  attempt  to  impose  the  joint 
mediation  of  France,  England,  and  Brazil  on  the  Republics 
of  Buenos  Ayres  and  Monte  Video  led  to  serious  hostilities, 
and  to  a  series  of  transactions  which,  as  illustrating  the 
character  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  possess  considerable  interest, 
but  on  which  it  is  impossible  to  dwell  in  these  pages. 

I  have  rapidly  touched  on  some  of  the  most  important 
events  connected  with  Lord  Aberdeen's  second  tenure  of 
the  Foreign  Office,  but  I  must  not  omit  some  notice  of 
matters  affecting  himself  personally  rather  than  any  public 
interest. 

He  gained  in  a  high  degree  the  favour  and  confidence  of 
the  Queen  and  Prince  Albert,  and  in  1844  he  was  offered 
by  them  the  house  at  Bagshot  now  occupied  by  the  Duke  of 
Connaught.  This  he  declined,  but  in  the  following  year  he 
accepted  the  Ranger's  House  at  Blackheath,  which  he  oc- 
casionally inhabited  himself,  and  which  became  during  the 
rest  of  his  life  the  habitual  residence  of  Lord  and  Lady 
Haddo  and  their  family. 

When  in  the  autumn  of  1845  several  members  of  the 
Cabinet  expressed  their  dissent  from  Sir  Robert  Peel's  pro- 
posal to  repeal  the  Corn  Laws,  he  appealed  to  Lord  Aberdeen, 
who  astonished  his  colleagues,  as  he  afterwards  did  the  House 
of  Lords,  by  at  once  saying  that  he  had  long  considered  the 
Corn  Laws  logically  indefensible,  and  had  only  supported 
them  because  he  supposed  their  abolition  impossible.  Sir 
James  Graham  and  Sidney  Herbert  followed  in  a  similar 
sense,  but  Lord  Aberdeen  was  the  first  who  expressed  assent 
to  Sir  Robert  Peel's  proposal. 

The  friendship  already  shown  and  the  confidence  reposed 
in  Lord  Aberdeen  by  Peel  could  hardly  be  exceeded  ;  but  if 


1 86  LORD  ABERDEEN 

possible  they  were  now  increased,  and  the  absolute  control 
of  all  foreign  affairs  was  more  unreservedly  and  more  com- 
pletely than  ever  left  in  his  hands. 

As  is  well  known,  the  failure  of  the  attempt  of  Lord 
John  Russell  to  form  a  Government  on  Sir  Robert  Peel's 
resignation  in  1845  was  due  to  Lord  Grey's  refusal  to  sit 
in  a  cabinet  in  which  Lord  Palmerston  would  have  held  the 
seals  of  the  Foreign  Office — a  refusal  based  on  the  antipathy 
with  which  Lord  Palmerston  was  regarded  by  all  foreign 
courts,  and  especially  by  that  of  France.  Lord  Palmerston, 
therefore,  with  an  eye  to  the  future,  thought  it  prudent  in 
the  spring  of  1846  to  visit  Paris,  and  attempt  to  dissipate 
the  prepossessions  existing  against  him  there.  Although  his 
success  there  was  by  no  means  such  as  would  be  gathered 
from  the  pages  of  his  biographers,  it  was  still  considerable. 
To  Lord  Aberdeen,  whose  chief  political  interest  was  the 
maintenance  of  the  entente  cordiale  between  the  two 
countries,  nothing  could  be  more  agreeable  than  the 
knowledge  that  one  of  the  greatest  dangers  to  its  con- 
tinuance was,  if  not  removed,  at  all  events  materially 
abated. 

It  would  have  been  a  poor  compliment  to  me  (he  wrote  to 
M.  Guizot  on  May  5),  had  you  sent  back  Lord  Palmerston 
discontented  and  affronted  ;  and,  in  truth,  no  one  would  have 
regretted  it  more  than  I  should  have  done,  from  the  manner  in 
which  it  might  have  affected  our  future  relations.  I  have  never 
desired  to  injure  Lord  Palmerston  ;  on  the  contrary,  at  the  time 
of  our  ministerial  crisis  in  December,  I  endeavoured  by  every 
means  in  my  power  to  smooth  his  advent  to  office.  Party  men, 
or  mere  politicians,  will  not  understand  this  conduct,  and  I 
doubt  if  Lord  Palmerston  comprehends  it  himself ;  but  you  will 
have  no  such  difficulty. 

About  a  month  later  the  end  came,  and  Lord  Aberdeen 
wrote  to  announce  his  fall  to  M.  Guizot  and  Madame  de 
J^ieven.     The  replies  of  both  are  characteristic. 


RESIGNATION  1 87 

Madame  de  Lieven  wrote  : 

Juillet  15,  1846. — Je  suis  pleine  de  tristesse  et  en  meme 
temps  d'orgueil  pour  vous.  Jamais  minist^re  n'a  quitte  les 
affaires  sous  des  auspices  plus  magnifiques,  plus  glorieux. — A 
I'intdrieur,  a  I'exterieur,  les  plus  grands  succSs.  C'est  drama- 
tique  ;  c'est  superbe,  mais  je  recommence  ;— c'est  triste. 

M.  Guizot's  farewell  was  as  follows  : 

II  faut  done  enfin  que  je  vous  ecrive  pour  vous  dire  adieu. 
Je  n'esperais  pas,  et  pourtant  j'attendais.  C'est  pour  moi  un  si 
vif  deplaisir,  un  regret  si  profond  !  On  ne  se  resigne  qu'k  la 
derni^re  extremite.  Vous  sortez  bien  glorieusement.  J'ai 
appris  votre  bonne  fortune  de  I'Ordgon  avec  la  meme  joie  que 
si  elle  m'eut  concerne  personnellement  ;  vos  succes  etaient  mes 
succ^s.  Vous  parti rez  probablement  bientot  pour  Haddo  ;  moi 
je  pars  dans  quelques  jours  pour  le  Val-Richer.  Que  ne 
pouvons-nous  mettre  en  commun  notre  repos,  comme  nous 
avons  mis  en  commun  notre  travail  ?  Mais  on  arrange  si  peu 
sa  vie  comme  on  voudrait  !  on  jouit  si  peu  de  ses  amis  !  On 
se  rencontre,  on  s'entrevoit  un  moment.  Puis  on  se  separe,  et 
chacun  va  de  son  cote,  emportant  des  souvenirs  doux  qui 
deviennent  bientot  de  tristes  regrets. 

The  resignation  of  Lord  Aberdeen  was  lamented 
throughout  Europe ;  for,  while  vigilant  in  the  maintenance 
of  English  interests,  he  had  ever  shown  studious  respect 
to  the  national  pride  and  sensitiveness  of  other  countries — 
often  strong  in  States  materially  weak.  He  exacted,  sternly 
enough,  reparation  for  wrongs  done,  and  insisted  on  the 
acknowledgment  of  rights  belonging  to  Great  Britain  ;  but 
he  abstained  from  lecturing  foreign  statesmen  on  the  con- 
duct of  their  internal  policy.  That,  he  deemed,  was  best 
judged  by  themselves  and  those  over  whom  they  ruled. 
Where  there  was  courage  to  demand,  and  power  to  main- 
tain reforms,  he  believed  they  would  soon  be  adopted. 
Where  they  did  not  exist,  he  had  little  faith  in  the  utility 
or  permanence  of  changes  effected  through  foreign  influence. 


1 88  LORD  ABERDEEN 


CHAPTER   VIII 
1846-1853 

Lord  Aberdeen  at  home  —  Language  as  to  the  Spanish  Marriages — Dis- 
approval of  Lord  Palmerston's  Policy— Death  of  Sir  Robert  Peel — 
Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill— Asked  to  form  a  Government,  but 
declines— Neapolitan  Letters— Attitude  after  the  Fall  of  Lord 
John  Russell's  Government — Becomes  Prime  Minister. 

Shortly  after  his  resignation  Lord  Aberdeen  went  down 
to  Haddo,  and  there  remained  till  recalled  to  London  by 
the  reassembling  of  Parliament  in  February  1847.  ^^^ 
the  six  following  years  also  he  spent  in  Scotland  the  whole 
period  between  the  close  of  one  session  and  the  commence- 
ment of  the  next,  and  this  part  of  the  year  was  certainly  that 
which  he  passed  most  agreeably  to  himself.  The  '  vie  de 
grand  seigneur  de  province '  which  he  there  led  has  already 
been  sketched  by  M.  de  Jarnac,  in  his  excellent  article  on 
Lord  Aberdeen  in  the  '  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes '  for  August 
1862,  and  by  M.  Guizot  in  his  letters  to  his  family  ;  but  my 
task  would  be  ill  performed  if  I  were  to  leave  unnoticed  so 
characteristic  and  considerable  a  portion  of  his  life.  His 
habits  were  as  regular  and  methodical  as  his  tastes  were 
simple.  Rising  early,  he  invariably  took  a  short  walk,  ac- 
companied by  one  of  his  sons,  before  meeting  his  family 
and  guests  at  breakfast,  from  which  meal,  however  large  the 
party,  the  attendance  of  servants  was  rigorously  excluded, 
as  it  was  also  from  luncheon.     After  breakfast  he  wrote  in 


LIFE  AT   HADDO  1 89 

his  own  room  till  the  departure  of  the  post.  He  then 
saw  his  bailiff,  who  presented  him  with  a  '  Daily  State '  of 
the  labourers  employed  in  the  house,  farm,  gardens,  and 
grounds,  often  exceeding  one  hundred  in  number,  and  re- 
ceived his  orders  for  the  day.  As  twelve  o'clock  struck,  he 
descended  the  broad  flight  of  steps  which  led  from  the 
drawing-room  to  the  terrace.  The  head  gardener,  who  was 
standing  ready  at  the  foot  of  the  steps,  accompanied  him 
round  the  terrace  and  garden.  At  the  end  of  the  short 
lime  avenue  with  which  the  long  walk  leading  to  the  lake 
begins,  the  head  forester  awaited  him.  They  went  together 
through  some  portion  of  the  plantations,  instructions  as  to 
the  thinning  of  which  were  given,  the  construction  of  new 
walks  was  planned,  and  other  projected  improvements  dis- 
cussed. On  Saturdays  this  routine  was  varied.  On  that 
morning,  at  noon.  Lord  Aberdeen  appeared,  not  on  the 
drawing-room  steps,  but  on  the  corresponding  flight  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  house,  and  there  received  all  who  wished 
to  speak  to  him  on  business,  to  complain  of  any  grievance, 
to  ask  advice,  or  to  give  information.  He  spoke  to  each 
separately,  and  took  notes  of  what  was  said.  This  species 
of  '  sitting  in  the  gate  ' — a  survival,  I  presume,  of  the  days 
of  the  heritable  administration  of  justice— was  not  un- 
common among  great  Scottish  landlords  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  Duchess  Countess  of  Sutherland  and  Lord 
Aberdeen  were,  I  believe,  the  last  to  practise  it.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  at  that  time  the  burdens  and  duties 
which  fell  upon  a  proprietor  of  great  estates  in  Scotland 
were,  and  indeed  to  a  large  extent  still  are,  much  more  con- 
siderable than  those  of  an  English  landlord.  Almost  all 
public  works,  the  making  of  roads,  the  building  of  bridges, 
the  building  and  maintenance  of  churches,  schools,  and 
manses,  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  many  other  matters,  were 


I  go  LORD  ABERDEEN 

determined  on  by  the  '  heritors '  of  the  parish,  and  exe- 
cuted at  their  expense.  But  when  a  single  man  was,  as 
was  often  the  case,  '  sole  heritor '  in  many  parishes,  the 
whole  power  of  determination  lay  with  him,  and  the  whole 
burden  of  cost  fell  on  him.  He  had  therefore  great  power 
and  great  responsibility,  and  became  the  referee  and  arbiter 
of  many  matters  which  would  in  England  have  been  settled 
by  the  Petty  Sessions,  the  Poor  Law  Guardians,  the  Vestry, 
and  other  local  authorities. 

These  Saturday  morning  levees  were  therefore  never 
without  attendants,  but  on  the  first  Saturday  after  Lord 
Aberdeen's  return  from  England  there  was  always  a  specially 
large  assembly  ;  and  to  the  demand  on  what  business  they 
came,  the  reply  that  they  had  no  business,  but  wished 
to  see  his  face  again,  was  not  uncommon.  The  custom  had 
its  value,  but  for  some  years  before  his  death  Lord  Aberdeen 
abandoned  it ;  partly  to  avoid  fatigue,  but  chiefly  as  being 
no  longer  necessary,  and  inconsistent  with  modern  usages. 
A  practice  most  useful  when  comparatively  few  could  write, 
ceased  to  be  so  when  every  one  could  express  himself  with 
facility  in  writing. 

Lord  Aberdeen's  favourite  amusement  in  the  afternoon 
was  driving  himself  in  a  light  pony  carriage.  His  fast- 
trotting  ponies  carried  him  over  a  great  extent  of  ground  in 
a  very  short  time,  and  he  was  thus  enabled  to  visit  works  in 
progress  at  a  considerable  distance,  or  to  wander  for  some 
hours,  as  he  often  did,  in  the  picturesque  valley  of  Formartine, 
now  realising  the  expectation  he  had  formed  of  its  future 
beauty  more  than  twenty  years  before. 

On  Sundays  the  parish  church  was  duly  visited.  There 
was  but  one  service,  at  midday,  in  consideration  of  the 
great  distance  from  which  many  of  the  congregation  came. 
A  long  array  of  vehicles  conveyed  the  whole  household 


SUNDAY  AT   IIADDO  I9I 

servants  and  masters,  from  the  house  to  the  church,  and  as 
the  huge  lumbering  old  coach,  holding  six  inside,  with 
which  the  procession  closed,  was  seen  to  round  a  certain 
corner  on  the  road,  the  minister,  in  his  Geneva  gown  and 
bands,  emerged  from  the  back  door  of  the  '  manse,'  and 
crossed  the  village  green  to  the  church  ;  round  and  not  /«, 
which,  according  to  immemorial  custom,  the  congregation, 
whatever  the  weather,  was  assembled.  Lord  Aberdeen  and 
his  family  climbed  the  steep  flight  of  rough  stone  steps, 
external  to  the  building,  which  led  to  their  seat,  and  the 
congregation  poured  into  the  church  ;  while  the  minister, 
sidling  with  difficulty  past  the  old  women,  arrayed  in  red  or 
clay-coloured  cloaks,  and  high  stiff  white  '  mutches,'  who  by 
right  of  deafness  sat  upon  the  pulpit  stairs,  made  his  way  to 
that  eminence,  hung  up  his  hat  on  a  peg  therein,  and 
proceeded  to  read  the  metrical  psalm  with  which  the  service 
commenced,  and  which  was  sung  sitting.  The  roar  of  many 
hundred  voices,  every  one  of  which  joined  in  contributing 
to  the  volume  of  sound,  unaccompanied  by  any  instrument, 
was  solemn  and  imposing,  notwithstanding  the  want  of 
harmony  ;^far  more  solemn  than  the  performance  of  the 
bonneted  and  beribboned  '  choir,'  to  the  accompaniment 
of  an  American  organ  out  of  tune,  which  does  duty  for 
congregational  singing  in  so  many  Scottish  Presbyterian 
churches  of  the  present  day.  At  the  close  of  the  service, 
the  minister,  after  pronouncing  with  extended  arms  the  final 
blessing,  turned  to  the  '  loft,'  in  which  '  my  lord '  was  seated, 
and  made  a  low  bow,  which  was  returned  with  equal  gravity 
and  depth  of  obeisance  by  his  lordship  standing.  In  the 
afternoon  a  solemn  walk  of  the  whole  family  and  guests  was 
taken  to  the  top  of  a  hill  in  the  deer  park,  round  the  lakes, 
and  to  the  kitchen  garden.  After  dinner,  the  day  was 
concluded  by  the  assembly  of  the  whole  household  in  the 


192  LORD   ABERDEEN 

library  for  prayers.  These  consisted  of  a  series  of  prayers 
written  by  Lord  Aberdeen  himself,  and  of  great  beauty. 

In  1840  Lord  Aberdeen  had  built  a  small  house  at 
Buchan  Ness,  a  promontory  on  the  sea-coast  about  twenty 
miles  from  Haddo,  and  the  most  eastern  point  of  Scotland. 
There  he  delighted  to  go  for  a  few  days  at  a  time.  It  is 
a  wild  and  striking  spot.  The  granite  cliffs,  torn  and  rent 
by  countless  narrow  fiords  and  gullies,  descend  abruptly 
into  deep  water,  in  every  variety  of  form  and  colour  No 
tree  is  to  be  found  on  that  desolate  coast,  but  the  tints 
of  the  rocks  themselves,  and  of  the  lichens  which  encrust 
them,  prevent  the  eye  from  greatly  missing  arboreal  vegeta- 
tion. In  one  of  the  numberless  ravines  which  indent  the 
coast.  Lord  Aberdeen  formed  a  garden  descending  in  a  series 
of  terraces  to  the  sea.  It  was  divided  at  the  bottom  by  a 
*  stack '  of  bright  red  granite,  which  rose  abruptly  in  the 
centre  of  the  ravine.  The  effect  of  this  combination,  when 
the  terrace  beds  were  gay  with  many  coloured  flowers,  was 
singularly  lovely. 

The  fishing  population  of  the  adjoining  village,  Scandi- 
navian in  origin,  peculiar  in  their  habits,  and  picturesque  in 
their  appearance,  had  a  special  attraction  for  Lord  Aberdeen, 
and  under  his  care  the  village,  without  losing  much  of  its 
picturesque  beauty,  became  a  model  of  neatness  and  cleanli- 
ness— virtues  not  often  cultivated  in  Scottish  fishing  villages. 
The  women  were  accustomed  to  spend  much  time  in  watch- 
ing the  departure  of  their  husbands  and  sons  at  night  for 
the  fishing,  and  in  looking  for  their  return  in  the  morning. 
For  their  accommodation.  Lord  Aberdeen  put  up,  in  a 
sheltered  nook  overlooking  the  little  harbour,  a  number 
of  granite  seats,  and  nothing  pleased  him  better  than  to  see 
them  well  filled.  At  the  same  spot  he  caused  a  large 
barometer  to  be  inserted  under  glass  in  an  upright  slab  of 


LIFE  AT   HADDO  193 

red  granite,  so  that  it  might  be  easily  consulted  by  the 
fishermen ;  and  to  its  warnings  the  Boddam  herring  fleet 
more  than  once  owed  its  escape  from  dangers  which  proved 
fatal  to  boats  belonging  to  other  villages  on  the  coast. 

Whilst  at  Haddo  he  was  always  surrounded  by  the  greater 
part  of  his  family ;  his  brothers,  his  sons  and  daughters-in-law, 
his  stepchildren  and  their  families,  and  his  grandchildren. 
There  were  generally  also  a  few  guests  of  greater  or  less  dis- 
tinction in  the  house,—  former  colleagues,  friends  from  the 
great  outer  world,  or  county  neighbours  to  whom  the  Lord 
Lieutenant  desired  to  show  civility.  During  the  six  months 
spent  at  Haddo  he  hardly  ever  left  it,  or  paid  visits  else- 
where. 

I  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  be  thus  minute  in  my 

account  of  the  habits  of  life  followed  by  Lord  Aberdeen  at 

home,  not  only  because  some  account  of  them  is  material 

to  a  right  understanding  of  the  man,  but  because  the  style 

of  life  described   is  one  which,  in  its  mingled    simplicity 

and  stateliness,  has  now  wholly  disappeared.     The  almost 

ostentatious  absence  of  display,  and  the   care  with  which 

any  outward  assertion  or  symbol  of   rank    or  wealth  was 

avoided,   contrast    strangely  with  the  luxury  and   show  of 

nearly  all  great  houses  of  the  present  day.     On  the  other 

hand,  the  deference,  unexpressed,  but  felt  and  tacitly  shown, 

which  formed  the  basis  of  this  life,  is  now  unknown.    Lord 

Aberdeen's  daughter-in-law,  the  present  Countess  Dowager, 

writes  thus  of  those  days  : 

There  was  a  formality  and  stiffness  which  even  then  struck 
most  strangers,  and  would  now  do  so  still  more,  and  which  gave 
rather  the  impression  of  a  little  court  with  a  somewhat  rigid 
etiquette.  The  admirals  ^  read  their  papers  in  the  anteroom, 
the  younger  ones  talked  in  an  undertone  in  a  corner,  while  the 
rest  of  us  either  conversed  inaudibly,  or  waited  in  silence  for  his 
lordship  to  begin  before  we  spoke  to  him. 

•  Lord  Aberdeen's  brothers. 


194  LORD  ABERDEEN 

*  His  lordship '  : — the  very  fact  that  even  in  famiHar 
intercourse  he  was  never  spoken  of  by  any  other  name  by 
those  who  loved  him  best,  itself  shows  something  of  this 
formality.  Even  at  the  time,  that  stiffness  was  felt  to  be  a 
*  survival ; '  and  it  was  often  said  by  the  younger  members  of 
the  family,  that  it  only  needed  the  guard  of  halberdiers  to 
make  the  formal  Sunday  walk  an  exact  counterpart  of  the 
Due  de  Sully's  solemn  family  promenades. 

But  though  Lord  Aberdeen  spent  so  large  a  portion  of 
his  time  each  year  in  strict  retirement  at  Haddo,  and  took 
no  very  active  part  in  public  life  when  in  London,  he  now 
held  a  position  in  the  State  which  made  entire  abstinence 
from  political  action  on  his  part,  even  when  at  home, 
impossible.  Almost  immediately  after  his  resignation  he 
was  induced  to  preside  at  a  meeting  of  the  Agricultural 
Society  of  the  four  north-eastern  counties  of  Scotland.  In 
spite  of  his  Free  Trade  views,  the  personal  respect  felt  for  him, 
and  his  position,  ensured  him  a  hearty  welcome  from  the 
assembled  lairds  and  farmers,  strong  Protectionists  though 
the  great  majority  of  them  were  ;  and  he  took  advantage  of 
the  opportunity  to  deliver  to  them  an  uncompromising 
Free  Trade  speech,  which  was  well  received. 

On  all  domestic  questions  he  gave  a  steady  support  to 
the  Government  of  Lord  John  Russell,  but  he  entertained, 
and  frequently  expressed,  the  strongest  disapproval  of  the 
policy  which,  under  the  guidance  of  Lord  Palmerston, 
that  Government  pursued  in  its  dealings  with  foreign 
affairs. 

I  have  in  another  chapter  told  the  true  story  of  the 
famous  Spanish  marriages,  which  were  arranged  within  three 
months  of  Lord  Aberdeen  quitting  the  Foreign  Office.  He 
did  not  at  the  time  know  how  widely  Lord  Palmerston  had 
departed  from  the  course  which  he  had  himself  taken  with 


SPANISH   MARRIAGES  195 

reference  to  that  matter,  and  did  not  believe  that  any  such 
departure  had  taken  place.  But  though  he  considered  the 
French  Government  to  have  acted  hastily  and  unjustifiably, 
he  entertained  not  the  slightest  doubt  of  its  good  faith,  and 
was  above  all  things  desirous  that  the  action  of  the  two 
Governments  in  concert,  which  had  been  attended  with  such 
numerous  advantages,  should  not  be  interrupted.  In  reply 
to  denunciations  of  the  King  and  his  Minister  which  Lord 
Aberdeen  received  from  Prince  Albert,  he  wrote  : 

I  will  venture  to  observe  that  a  good  understanding  with 
France  is  just  as  necessary  now  as  it  was  at  the  moment  when 
the  entente  was  most  cordial  and  intimate.  This  marriage  is 
not  an  adequate  cause  of  national  quarrel,  and  whatever  may 
be  the  private  and  personal  feelings  necessarily  produced  by 
what  has  taken  place,  I  am  satisfied  that  the  Queen  is  too 
magnanimous  to  give  way  to  undue  resentment,  and  too  wise 
to  desire  to  deviate  from  a  policy  of  forbearance  and  peace. 

And,  the  Prince  having  resumed  the  subject  in  a  subse- 
quent letter.  Lord  Aberdeen  replied  : 

The  marriage  of  the  Due  de  Montpensier  is  really  an  affair 
of  little  importance  to  England,  and  it  is  an  event  with  which 
in  itself  we  have  no  right  to  quarrel.  It  derives  its  present 
objectionable  character  entirely  from  the  breach  of  the  engage- 
ment at  Eu,  which  for  my  own  part,  and  for  the  sake  of  both 
countries,  I  heartily  wish  had  never  been  entered  into  at  all. 
As  matters  now  stand,  the  entente  as  it  formerly  existed  must  be 
at  an  end.  The  Queen  has  expressed  her  feelings  upon  the 
whole  transaction  in  a  manner  the  most  dignified  and  convincing ; 
and  I  only  venture  to  hope  that  these  feelings  of  displeasure 
will  never  degenerate  into  active  hostility. 

He  wrote  in  the  same  tone  to  Peel,  to  Sir  James  Graham, 
and  to  Guizot  himself,  and,  when  he  heard  that  there  was 
an  intention  to  protest  against  the  marriage  of  the  Due  de 
Montpensier  as  a  violation  of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  he 
exerted  himself  to  show  very  fully  the  unreasonableness  of 
such  a  course.  He  had  no  difficulty  in  shivering  to  pieces 
the  argument  on  which  the  protest  was  founded,  and  I  much 


196  LORD  ABERDEEN 

regret  that  space  does  not  permit  me  to  give  some  quotations 
from  writings  which  are  admirable  examples  of  close  rea- 
soning and  conclusive  argument.  Their  main  points  were 
afterwards  published  in  an  article  in  the  *  Quarterly 
Review.' 

The  French  Revolution  of  1848  of  course  profoundly 
affected  Lord  Aberdeen.  M.  Guizot  and  his  family  were, 
on  reaching  England,  pressed  to  take  up  their  abode  at 
Argyll  House,  but  for  many  reasons  M.  Guizot  preferred  to 
establish  himself  in  a  house  of  his  own  at  Brompton.  He, 
however,  saw  Lord  Aberdeen  almost  every  day,  and  their 
friendship  became  more  than  ever  close  and  intimate. 

During  the  next  two  sessions  Lord  Aberdeen  continued 
to  protest  against  the  policy  of  Lord  Palmerston,  which 
reached  its  culminating  point  in  the  discreditable  bullying 
to  which,  in  1850,  the  Greek  Government  was  subjected  on 
account  of  the  claims  of  Don  Pacifico.  We  now  know  that 
Lord  John  Russell  and  a  majority  of  the  Cabinet  did  not 
entertain  any  very  different  opinion  of  Lord  Palmerston's 
policy  from  that  held  by  Lord  Aberdeen.  It  was  unfortunate 
that  no  inkling  of  the  resolution  at  which  Lord  John  Russell 
had  arrived,  to  deprive  Lord  Palmerston  of  the  seals  of 
the  Foreign  Office,  had  reached  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  Lord 
Aberdeen.  Had  it  done  so,  the  famous  Pacifico  debate, 
which  forced  Lord  John  to  undertake  the  defence  of  a 
colleague  he  had  already  determined  to  dismiss,  and  gave 
Lord  Palmerston  more  than  another  year  of  office,  would 
never  have  been  raised  ;  whilst  on  the  retirement  of  Lord 
Palmerston  the  union  of  the  friends  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  with 
the  great  bulk  of  the  Liberal  party  would  have  been  effected 
earlier  than  it  actually  was,  and  without  the  friction  to  which 
by  that  time  their  relations  had  been  subjected.  Such  a 
union,  in  1850,  would  almost  certainly  have  saved  Lord 


DEATH   OF   PEEL  197 

John  from  the  great  error  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill, 
and  might  not  improbably  have  averted  the  Crimean  War. 

The  needful  knowledge  was,  however,  wanting  ;  and  even 
Sir  Robert  Peel,  friendly  as  were  his  feelings  to  the  Govern- 
ment, and  greatly  as  he  dreaded  its  overthrow,  felt  com- 
pelled, even  at  this  risk,  to  denounce  a  policy  which  he 
regarded  as  not  only  indefensible  but  dangerous.  But  the 
Civis  Romanus  sum  argument  was  popular  with  the  House 
of  Commons  and  the  public.  Beaten  by  a  large  majority 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  the  Government  obtained  a  more 
than  compensating  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  Lord  Palmerston  became  for  a  time  its  most  popular 
member. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  day  on  which  this  vote  was 
given.  Sir  Robert  Peel  met  with  the  accident  which  in  a  few 
days  caused  his  death. 

The  shock  felt  by  Lord  Aberdeen  at  the  loss  of  his 
perhaps  closest  friend  was  very  great,  and  all  the  greater 
from  the  mask  of  coldness  which  he  so  successfully  assumed, 
as  to  hide  from  all  but  those  few  who  knew  him  best  the 
depth  to  which  he  was  affected.  The  day  before  Sir  Robert 
Peel  died  Lord  Aberdeen  was  at  Blackheath.  He  stood 
on  the  rug  and  spoke  of  indifferent  matters.  '  Why  does 
grandpapa  stand  so  very  still  to-day  ? '  asked  the  children. 
Their  mother  well  knew,  and  was  not  surprised  to  hear  that 
at  night  he  was  attacked  by  violent  spasms,  the  physical 
reaction  of  the  effort  to  suppress  all  outward  emotion. 

The  death  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  forced  upon  Lord  Aber- 
deen a  prominence  which  he  would  gladly  have  avoided. 
He  became,  by  the  spontaneous  action  of  every  member  of 
•what  was  called  the  Peelite  party,  its  recognised  leader  and 
head.  That  this  party,  small  though  it  was,  owed  its  con- 
tinued existence  to  the  bonds  of  similarity  of  opinion  and 


^ 


198  LORD   ABERDEEN 

principle,  and  not  to  the  mere  accident  of  personal  con- 
nection, was  curiously  proved  in  the  winter  of  the  same 
year,  when,  without  any  previous  communication  or  know- 
ledge of  each  other's  sentiments,  Lord  Aberdeen,  Sir  James 
Graham,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  Mr. 
Sidney  Herbert,  each  came  independently  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  line  taken  by  Lord  John  Russell  in  meeting  wha 
was  called  Papal  aggression,  and  in  which  he  was  supported 
by  the  vast  majority  of  the  nation,  was  one  inconsistent 
with  the  true  principles  of  religious  liberty,  and  must  be 
firmly  opposed,  at  whatever  sacrifice  of  popularity,  and  at 
the  cost  of  a  breach  with  a  Government  with  which  they 
were,  on  the  whole,  in  sympathy. 

The  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Act  of  1851  has  since  been 
repealed,    it   may   be    said    by    acclamation.      It   is   now 
generally  admitted  that  the  popular  frenzy  on  the  subject 
was  a  delusion,  and  Lord  John's   encouragement  of  it  a 
grave   error.      But  at  the  time  the  few  who  ventured  to 
refuse   to   echo   the   popular   cry   became   the   objects   of 
general  obloquy  and  suspicion,  and  it  required  no  small 
degree  of  courage  openly  to  oppose  a  measure  called  for  by 
the  yells  of  frantic  meetings  from  one  end  of  Great  Britain 
to  the  other.     Lord  Aberdeen,  at  all  events,  showed  the  sin- 
cerity and  depth  of  his  convictions.     They  were  known  to 
members  of  his  family,  and  to  his  most  intimate  friends, 
but  he   had  not   publicly  declared  them,  nor  were  they 
generally  suspected,  when,  early  in  1851,  Lord  Jord  Russell 
sought  his  assistance,  and  that  of  Sir  James  Graham,  in  the 
construction  of  a  new  Government,  in  which  Lord  Palmer- 
ston  was  not  to  be  included.     The  temptation  was  great, 
and  the  termination  of  the  isolation  of  the  Peel  party  would 
have  been  a  great  public  gain;  but  both  Lord  Aberdeen  and 
Sir  James  Graham  at  once  declared  negotiation  impossible, 


LORD   ABERDEEN    DECLINES   OFFICE  1 99 

unless  Lord  John  would  withdraw  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles 
Bill.  To  this  Lord  John  would  not,  and  indeed,  after  the 
pledges  he  had  given,  could  not,  consent,  though  he  agreed 
to  withdraw  and  abandon  all  its  clauses  but  the  first,  and 
for  a  moment  this  appeared  to  afford  room  for  agreement. 
But  Lord  Aberdeen,  though  willing  to  assent  to  a  declaration 
repudiating  the  arrogance  and  offensiveness  of  the  Pope's 
mode  of  action,  was  resolute  in  his  refusal  to  agree  to  any 
penal  enactment,  and  concert  being  impossible,  the  nego- 
tiation fell  to  the  ground.  The  Queen  then  wished  Lord 
Aberdeen  himself  to  undertake  the  formation  of  a  Cabinet, 
but,  fully  recognising  the  determination  of  the  people  to  pass 
the  measure  of  which  he  conscientiously  disapproved,  he 
declined  to  attempt  a  task  which  must  necessarily  prove 
futile.  Lord  Russell  afterwards  acknowledged  that  Lord 
Aberdeen  was  right,  and  has  expressed  regret  that  he  did 
not  adopt  his  suggestion  to  proceed  by  resolution  ;  ^  but  at 
the  time  he  thought  otherwise,  and  resumed  office  with  the 
same  Cabinet  as  before  his  defeat.  Lord  Aberdeen  gave  to 
Madame  de  Lieven  the  following  account  of  the  transaction  : 

After  the  resignation  of  Lord  John  and  his  whole  Cabinet 
on  Saturday  morning,  the  Queen  sent  for  Stanley,  who  told 
her  that  he  was  not  prepared  at  that  moment  to  undertake  the 
formation  of  a  Government  ;  but  that  if  other  combinations 
were  attempted  and  should  fail,  he  would  then  endeavour  to 
perform  the  task  rather  than  leave  the  Queen  without  a 
Government. 

The  Queen  sent  for  Lord  John  again,  and  also  for  me,  and 
Graham.  We  met  at  the  Palace,  and  after  a  long  interview 
it  was  decided  that  Lord  John  should  try  to  form  a  Govern- 
ment by  a  junction  with  Peel's  friends  and  the  best  of  his  own. 
The  next  day,  however,  convinced  Graham  and  me  that  we 
could  not  conscientiously  agree  to  the  'No  Popery'  measure 
which  Lord  John  proposed,  and  which  Parliament  appeared  to 

^  *  The  course  suggested  by  Lord  Aberdeen  would  have  been  as 
effectual,  and  less  offensive,  than  that  which  I  adopted.' — Lord  Russell's 
Recollections  and  Suggestions^  p.  257. 


200  LORD  ABERDEEN 

sanction.     The  negotiation  was  in  consequence  brought  at  once 
to  an  end,  and  Lord  John  resigned  his  commission. 

The  Queen  then  sent  for  me,  and  wished  me  to  undertake 
the  formation  of  the  Government.  You  will  readily  believe 
that  I  was  not  sorry  to  have  such  a  reason  for  declining  to  do 
so  as  was  afforded  me  by  the  relation  in  which  I  stood  to  the 
Popery  question,  and  the  certainty  of  defeat  in  the  House  of 
Commons  upon  it.  The  next  morning  the  Queen  sent  for 
Stanley  again,  and  he  is  now  engaged  to  form  a  Govern- 
ment. His  prospect  of  success  is  gloomy  enough.  Canning 
has  refused  the  Foreign  Office,  and  Gladstone  has  declined  to 
enter  his  Cabinet.  Whether  he  will  persevere,  and  endeavour 
to  produce  something  like  an  Administration,  or  give  up  the 
attempt  altogether,  I  really  cannot  say.  Ridicule  will  attend 
him  in  either  case. 

And  to  his  youngest  son  he  wrote  : 

I  might  have  been  Prime  Minister  at  this  moment  had  it 
not  been  for  my  resistance  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill. 
Without  doubt  this  is  a  most  unpopular  ground  ;  but  I  feel 
quite  satisfied  that  I  am  right.  Stanley  came  to  me  direct 
from  the  Queen,  and  endeavoured  to  persuade  me  to  be  her 
Foreign  Secretary.  He  went  from  me  to  Canning,  with  the 
same  proposal.  Having  failed  with  him  and  Gladstone,  he 
never  had  a  chance  of  forming  a  Government. 

Lord  Aberdeen  said  that,  when  he  explained  in  the 
House  of  Lords  the  reasons  which  had  led  him  to  decline 
to  form  a  junction  with  Lord  John,  or  to  frame  an  adminis- 
tration himself,  he  saw  surprise  depicted  upon  the  counte- 
nances of  his  hearers.  His  was  the  first  public  protest 
against  the  folly  and  injustice  of  the  contemplated  legislation, 
and  he  became  the  leader  of  resistance  to  it.  On  him, 
consequently,  fell  the  chief  burden  of  opposing  it  in  the 
House  of  Lords. 

The  minority  which  had  resisted  the  passage  of  the  Bill 
in  the  House  of  Commons  had  been  small,  but  it  will 
now  readily  be  admitted  that  the  victory  in  argument  rested 
with  it.  Few  speeches  of  Mr.  Gladstone  have  been  finer 
than  that  which  he  made  on  this  occasion,  and  that  of  Sir 
James   Graham   is   a  masterpiece    of  powerful   reasoning. 


ECCLESIASTICAL  TITLES  BILL  201 

Lord  Aberdeen  headed  a  yet  smaller  minority  in  the 
House  of  Lords.  In  the  speech  in  which  he  opposed  the 
second  reading  he  showed  how  little  the  act  complained  of 
had  in  it  of  an  objectionable  nature,  and  that,  though  done 
in  a  foolish  and  offensive  manner,  against  which  protest  might 
well  be  made,  it  afforded  no  ground  for  penal  legislation. 
The  Pope  had  converted  vicars  apostolic  in  England  into 
diocesan  bishops,  such  as  already  existed  in  Ireland — a 
change  which  had  been  long  contemplated,  which  had 
been  thought  desirable,  and  which  in  1794  it  had  been 
sought  to  effect  at  the  desire  of  the  British  Government,  and 
as  a  concession  to  its  wishes.  The  prohibition  contained  in 
the  Roman  Catholic  Relief  Bill  to  take  the  title  of  any  exist- 
ing bishopric  in  England  or  Ireland  (broken  with  impunity 
in  Ireland  from  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the  Act)  had 
in  this  case  been  scrupulously  respected  ;  and  the  designa- 
tions of  the  new  bishops  were  such  as,  under  the  pro- 
visions of  that  Act,  they  might  fairly  consider  themselves 
entitled  to  assume.  He  pointed  out  the  close  parallel 
between  the  position  of  the  bishops  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  Scotland  and  that  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
bishops  in  England,  and  showed  the  folly  of  supposing 
that  any  object  was  gained  by  prohibiting  the  use  of  names 
which  had  no  legal  significance.  He  dwelt  on  the  futility 
of  meeting  the  Pope's  insolence  by  punishing,  not  the 
offender,  but  the  innocent  English  Roman  Catholics  ;  and 
he  was  able  to  taunt  Lord  John  with  inconsistency,  and  to 
expose  the  persecuting  spirit  which  lurked  under  the  clauses 
of  the  Bill.  The  protest  which  he  recorded  against  the 
passage  of  the  Bill  obtained  but  twelve  signatures,  but 
there  is  hardly  an  article  in  it  which  would  not  now  com- 
mand universal  assent.  It  objected  to  the  measure  as 
inconsistent  with  either  justice  or  expediency  ;  as  mainly 


202  LORD   ABERDEEN 

dictated  by  prevalent  excitement,  which  it  was  the  duty  of 
the  Government  and  the  Legislature  rather  to  allay  than 
to  encourage  ;  and  as  inconsistent  with  full  toleration  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  in  prohibiting  that  species 
of  communication  with  the  See  of  Rome  which  was  indis- 
pensable for  its  perfect  discipline  and  government.  It 
urged  further,  that  the  restraints  imposed  involved  the 
principle,  and  might  involve  the  practice,  of  religious  perse- 
cution ;  and  it  asserted  that  the  ancient  statutes  against  the 
exercise  of  a  foreign  jurisdiction,  which  it  was  sought  to 
revive,  being  directed  against  all  exercise  of  jurisdiction, 
whether  by  diocesan  bishops  or  by  vicars  apostolic,  were 
incompatible  with  our  recognised  principles  of  toleration  and 
religious  freedom. 

At  the  end  of  the  session  Lord  Aberdeen  left  London 
one  of  the  most  unpopular  men  in  Great  Britain.  That  he 
would  in  little  more  than  twelve  months  be  summoned, 
with  general  assent,  to  assume  the  post  of  Prime  Minister 
would  at  that  time  have  seemed  a  wildly  improbable  pre- 
diction. He  himself  was  under  the  full  belief  that,  by  the 
attitude  he  had  assumed,  he  had  excluded  himself  from 
office  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  This  was,  however,  to 
him  no  great  sacrifice,  nor  did  he  feel  very  uneasy  at  the 
invectives  heaped  on  him  for  his  defence  of  what  he  felt  to 
be  a  just  cause. 

I  see  (he  wrote  to  his  youngest  son)  that  I  have  been  un- 
mercifully abused  at  a  Free  Church  meeting  at  Edinburgh, 
especially  by  Dr.  Candlish.  This  was  to  be  expected,  and 
cannot  be  helped  ;  but  the  exhibition  of  rancour,  bigotry,  and 
intolerance  was  deplorable. 

He  was  more  concerned  by  what  seemed  to  him  the 
misrepresentation  of  his  arguments  by  other  speakers  in 
the  House  of  Lords.  The  Duke  of  Argyll  having  heard 
that  Lord  Aberdeen  considered  him  to  have  stated  them 


MR.   GLADSTONE'S   NEAPOLITAN    LETTERS      203 

unfairly,  wrote  to  him  to  invite  a  discussion  of  the  unfair- 
ness alleged.  Lord  Aberdeen  declined  the  controversy. 
He  was,  he  said,  an  old  man  retiring  from  the  field  of 
public  life  ;  the  Duke  a  young  one,  to  whom  its  contests 
were  opening,  and  who  would  probably  obtain  in  them  great 
distinction.  He  had  no  wish  to  diminish  the  satisfaction 
he  should  feel  in  those  successes  by  entering  upon  a 
personal  conflict  with  him,  nor  did  he  consider  the  defence 
of  his  own  position  of  sufficient  consequence  to  lead  him 
to  abandon  his  fixed  resolution  to  avoid  any  polemical 
correspondence  with  a  friend.  This  letter  made  a  great 
impression  on  the  Duke,  who  thenceforth  did  to  Lord 
Aberdeen's  character  a  justice  which  it  had  not  before  re- 
ceived from  him. 

To  this  year  1851  belongs  the  somewhat  curious  episode 
of  the  publication  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  letters  respecting 
the  condition  of  political  prisoners  at  Naples.  When  Mr. 
Gladstone  returned  to  England  after  his  visit  to  Naples, 
he  went  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  full  of  the  impressions  which 
he  had  received,  and  declared  his  intention  to  bring  the 
subject  before  Parliament  and  the  public.  Lord  Aberdeen 
dissuaded  him  from  so  doing  until  he  had  himself  used  his 
influence  to  put  an  end  to  the  cruelties  of  which  the 
Neapolitan  Government  was  accused.  This  Lord  Aberdeen 
promised  to  do,  provided  Mr.  Gladstone  remained  silent ; 
for,  as  he  pointed  out,  silence  was  essential  to  allow  any 
chance  of  success  to  his  intervention,  or  any  mitigation  of 
the  prisoners'  treatment.  He  accordingly  requested  Mr. 
Gladstone  to  write  a  full  statement  of  the  case,  in  which  he 
should  be  careful  to  say  nothing  which  did  not  admit  of 
'  positive  proof,  and  which  might  be  used  by  Lord  Aberdeen 
as  he  might  find  expedient.  Mr.  Gladstone's  first  letter  was 
written  in  compliance  with  this  request. 


204  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Lord  Aberdeen  then  wrote  to  Prince  Schwarzenberg, 
and  enclosed  Mr.  Gladstone's  letter  : 

I  told  him  (he  wrote  afterwards  to  Princess  Lieven)  that, 
without  myself  being  able  to  answer  for  its  truth,  my  knowledge 
of  Gladstone's  character  made  me  certain  that  it  was  written 
by  him  under  full  conviction  of  its  accuracy.  I  drew  the 
Prince's  attention  to  the  evil  consequences  which  must  follow 
from  such  accusations  made  by  a  person  like  Gladstone  ;  and 
I  entreated  him  to  look  at  the  case  in  the  interest  of  order  and 
monarchical  government  of  which  he  had  himself  been  so  zealous 
and  so  successful  a  supporter.  As  an  old  friend  of  the  Austrian 
Government,  I  ventured  to  request  him,  if  he  should  find  Glad- 
stone's accusation  well  founded,  to  employ  his  influence  at 
Naples  with  the  view  of  effecting  some  improvement.  Such 
a  proceeding  could  only  be  creditable  to  Austria,  and  advan- 
tageous to  the  cause  which  he  had  at  heart.  .  .  . 

In  the  meantime,  however,  Gladstone  began  to  grow  im- 
patient. I  did  not  hear  from  Prince  Schwarzenberg,  and  he 
concluded  that  no  attention  would  be  paid  to  my  letter.  I  had 
written  in  May,  and  we  were  in  the  month  of  July  ;  he  pro- 
posed, therefore,  to  publish  without  further  delay.  I  remon- 
strated against  this,  and  told  him  it  would  place  me  in  a  very 
false  position  with  respect  to  Prince  Schwarzenberg.  I  thought 
he  was  bound  to  wait  for  the  Prince's  answer,  and  if  that  was 
unfavourable,  he  might  then  do  as  he  pleased.  I  got  him  to 
delay  another  fortnight  ;  but  at  last,  in  spite  of  my  remon- 
strances, he  sent  his  letter  to  the  press.  Two  days  after  the 
publication.  Count  Buol  arrived,  bringing  me  a  long  letter  from 
Prince  Schwarzenberg,  in  which,  after  discussing  at  length  the 
condition  and  claims  of  political  offenders,  he  says  that,  had 
any  official  application  been  made  to  him,  he  should  have  felt 
it  his  duty  to  decline  all  interference  ;  but  that  he  would  confi- 
dentially and  privately  take  measures  to  comply  with  my  wishes  ; 
and  this  he  was  the  better  able  to  do,  as  I  had  been  the  means 
of  suspending  Gladstone's  appeal  to  the  public. 

Lord  Aberdeen  wrote  again  to  Prince  Schwarzenberg,  and 
begged  him  to  recollect  that  the  facts  of  the  case  and  the 
dictates  of  sound  policy  and  humanity  remained  the  same. 
But  the  mischief  was  done.  Prince  Schwarzenberg  had 
been  deprived  of  his  most  efficient  means  of  acting,  and  it 
had  been  made  infinitely  more  difficult  for  the  King  of 
Naples  to  alleviate  the  condition  of  the  political  prisoners, 
even  if  inclined  to  do  so, 


THE   NEAPOLItAN   PRISONERS  20^ 

Lord  Aberdeen  undoubtedly  felt  that  in  first  resorting  to 
his  intervention,  and  then  acting  without  waiting  till  he  was 
satisfied  that  such  intervention  had  failed,  Mr.  Gladstone  had 
treated  him  inconsiderately  ;  but  with  his  usual  magnanimity 
he  refrained  from  the  expression  of  displeasure.  *  I  have 
certainly,'  he  wrote,  'much  reason  to  complain  of  Glad- 
stone ;  but  he  is  so  honest  and  so  perfectly  sincere,  and  we 
are  both  personally  and  politically  connected  so  closely,  that 
although  I  have  not  concealed  my  feelings  from  him,  it  is 
impossible  for  me  to  entertain  any  resentment.'  Mean- 
while, he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Neapolitan  minister,  which 
he  requested  might  be  laid  before  the  King  himself,  point- 
ing out  that  Mr.  Gladstone's  publication,  though  it  might 
make  clemency  more  difficult,  by  giving  to  it  an  aspect  of 
submission  to  external  force,  did  not  in  any  way  alter  the 
alleged  horrors  of  the  imprisonment,  or  make  the  claims  of 
humanity  less  imperative.  He  repeated  the  same  language 
to  the  King's  brother,  the  Count  of  Aquila,  the  following 
spring,  in  a  letter  also  written  for  submission  to  the  King. 
But  he  wrote  in  vain.  The  concession  which  had  been 
made  by  the  Neapolitan  Government  to  Prince  Schwarzen 
berg  was  not  repeated,  now  that  the  matter  had  become 
public.  The  publication  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  letters,  in 
the  long  run,  assisted  the  cause  of  revolution  in  Italy, 
by  rendering  English  opinion  hostile  to  the  King.  Its 
immediate  effect  was  to  prolong  the  sufferings  of  Poerio  and 
his  companions. 

The  dismissal  of  Lord  Palmerston  from  the  Foreign 
Office,  in  December  185 1,  removed  almost  all  practical  dif- 
ference between  Lord  Aberdeen  and  Lord  John  Russell, 
•and  it  was  not  without  some  regret  that  Lord  Aberdeen 
saw  his  friends  refuse  office,  when  it  was  offered  to  them  at 
the  beginning  of  1852, — a  regret  tempered  by  the  reflection 


^06  LORD  ABERDEEN 

that  the  Russell  Cabinet,  however  it  might  be  patched  up,  had 
become  too  weak  to  stand,  and  that  an  interval  of  Conser- 
vative administration  was  probably  necessary  to  secure  the 
abandonment  by  that  party  of  the  doctrines  of  Protection, 
as  well  as  to  bring  about  a  general  reorganisation  of  political 
forces.  In  February,  on  the  reassembling  of  Parliament, 
Lord  Palmerston  had  his  revenge,  and  carried  a  motion  with 
respect  to  the  Militia  which  compelled  Lord  John  Russell 
to  resign.  Lord  Derby  succeeded  him  as  Prime  Minister, 
and  the  alliance  of  Lord  Aberdeen  and  his  friends  now 
became  an  object  of  desire  both  to  the  new  Government 
and  to  the  leaders  of  the  Opposition.  Lord  Derby's 
Cabinet  was  almost  avowedly  provisional.  It  contained 
an  unusual  proportion  of  mediocrities  and  untried  men, 
and  it  was  known  that  its  head  was  ready  to  purchase 
Peelite  support  by  a  large  modification  of  its  composition. 
l^ord  Aberdeen's  position  was  a  peculiar  one.  In  opinion 
he  far  more  nearly  agreed  with  Lord  John  Russell  and 
his  friends  than  with  the  supporters  of  Lord  Derby ;  but 
he  had  for  his  whole  political  lifetime  been  opposed 
to  the  Whig  party,  and  whatever  cordiality  might  exist 
between  its  leaders  and  himself,  it  was  impossible  that 
the  mass  of  that  party  could  view  an  old  opponent  with 
confidence,  or  that  he  should  not  himself  regard  them 
with  some  suspicion.  On  the  other  hand,  he  had  been 
accustomed  for  many  years  to  act  in  concert  with  Lord 
Derby,  and  his  relations  of  private  friendship  with  most 
of  the  leading  members  of  the  Conservative  party  were 
such  as  it  was  not  easy  for  him  to  break.  Provided, 
therefore,  that  Lord  Derby  frankly  renounced  Protection, 
abstained  from  coquetting  with  the  '  No  Popery '  cry,  and 
pursued  a  conciliatory  and  rational  foreign  policy.  Lord 
Aberdeen  would  probably  have  preferred  to  see  him  main- 


DISSOLUTION   OF    1 85 2  20/ 

tained  in  office,  and  at  a  proper  time  would  have  come  to  his 
help.  This  was  certainly  the  decided  wish  of  Mr.  Gladstone 
and  of  Sidney  Herbert.  Sir  James  Graham's  inclinations 
were  in  an  opposite  direction.  The  Duke  of  Newcastle 
distrusted  and  disliked  Lord  Derby  and  Lord  John  in 
nearly  equal  measure.  As,  however,  the  period  for  the  dis- 
solution of  Parliament  approached,  it  became  more  and  more 
evident  that  the  conditions  on  which  alone  Lord  Aber- 
deen could  give  decided  support  to  the  Derby  Govern- 
ment would  not  be  fulfilled.  Lord  Derby  was  going  to  the 
country  on  a  mingled  cry  of  Protection  and  Protestant 
ascendency,  while  the  extravagant  friendship  shown  by  his 
Foreign  Secretary  for  the  author  of  the  coup  d'etat  was 
not  at  all  to  Lord  Aberdeen's  taste.  At  the  same  time, 
Lord  Aberdeen  cherished  a  hope  that  the  results  of  the 
election  might  be  such  as  would  induce  Lord  Derby  to 
adopt  sounder  views,  and  he  was  therefore  still  reluctant 
to  commit  himself  to  any  step  of  decided  hostility  to  the 
Government. 

The  dissolution  came.  Lord  Derby  made  no  overture 
to  the  Peelites.  Lord  John  Russell,  more  restless,  on 
July  2nd,  wrote  to  Lord  Aberdeen  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
pudiating any  association  with  the  sentiments  which  Lord 
Palmerston  had  expressed  in  the  House  of  Commons  as 
to  the  future  of  Italy.  In  so  doing,  he  was  well  aware 
that  he  removed  one  of  the  chief  obstacles  to  intimate  co- 
operation. A  month  later,  he  again  wrote  to  suggest  concert 
with  a  view  to  the  adoption  of  combined  action  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  ensuing  session,  to  secure  the  supremacy 
of  Free  Trade  principles,  which  might  or  might  not  afterwards 
be  followed  by  closer  union.  This  letter,  and  the  answer 
to  it,  have  been  printed  by  Mr.  Walpole  in  his  Life  of  Lord 
John  Russell.     But  in  order  justly  to  appreciate  the  patience 


5o8  LORt)   ABERDEEN 

and  moderation  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  or  the  weight  of  his 
personal  influence,  it  is  necessary  to  read,  not  only  these 
two  letters,  or  such  selected  extracts  from  others  as  are  con- 
tained in  Mr.  Walpole's  book,  but  the  whole  correspondence 
carried  on  during  the  summer  of  1852  by  Lord  Aberdeen  with 
Lord  John  himself,  and  with  Sir  James  Graham,  Mr,  Glad- 
stone, the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  and  Sidney  Herbert.     It  is  im- 
possible, within  the  limits  of  such  a  volume  as  this,  to  quote 
these  letters  fully,  or  even  to  make  use  of  large  extracts 
from  them.     Yet  without  doing  so  it  is  equally  impossible 
really  to  understand  the  difficulties  with  which  Lord  Aber- 
deen had  to  contend  in  promoting  the  work  of  reconciliation, 
or  the  patient  dignity  with  which  those  difficulties  were 
overcome  by  him.     Mr.  Gladstone  was  most  reluctant  to 
take  any  step  which  might  lead  towards  the  absorption  of 
the  Peelites  into  the  Liberal  party.     He  considered  that 
Lord  Aberdeen  and  his  friends  would  do  that  party  but 
little  good  by  such  a  measure  ;  much  less  than  they  might 
hope  to  do   to  the  Conservative  party   by — 'not   taking, 
but  keeping' — the   place    they  already  occupied    on   th6 
Liberal   wing   of  it ;   and   that   they   ought   not   to   leave 
men   from   whom   they  differed,  only  to  join  other   men 
from  whom  also  they  differed.     While  not  indisposed  to 
censure  the  Government,  he  was  most  anxious  not  to  break 
with    those   by  whom  that   Government  was    supported, 
regarding,  as  he  did,  the  intelligent  and  sober-minded  among 
them   as   the   best    and   most    valuable   raw   material   of 
political  party  in  the  country.     Partly  for  the  very  reason 
that  he  did  not  think  over  well  of  the  Government,  he  was 
unwilling  that  it  should  leave  office  with  three  hundred  men 
behind  it,  including  almost  every  person  with  whom  he  had 
been  accustomed  to  vote,  to  be  contemplated  by  him  on 
the  Opposition  benches  from  the  other  side  of  the  House. 


PEELITE   VIEWS  209 

And,  on  the  whole,  he  considered  that  the  country  had 
benefited  by  the  change  of  Government.  The  Colonies 
were  better  governed  ;  Lord  Derby  had  no  schemes  for 
moulding  the  Church  to  his  own  views  in  religion,  and 
would  not  alter  the  Constitution.  Mr.  Gladstone's  objec- 
tions to  any  further  reform  of  Parliament  were  in  them- 
selves enough  to  forbid  union  with  Lord  John  and  those 
who  were  in  a  manner  pledged  to  it. 

The  Duke  of  Newcastle,  on  the  contrary,  was  prepared 
for  union  with  the  Liberal  party,  but  not  to  accept  Lord 
John  Russell  as  its  chief.  Sir  James  Graham,  again, 
though  preferring  Lord  Aberdeen  as  the  head  of  a  new 
Cabinet,  was  not  personally  unwilling  to  see  Lord  John 
again  Prime  Minister  ;  but  he  was  aware  that  Lord 
Palmerston,  the  Peelites  generally,  the  Irish  members,  and 
a  large  section  of  the  Whigs  themselves,  would  not  consent 
to  it,  and  therefore  considered  his  accession  to  office  at 
that  time  impossible.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  a 
section  of  Lord  John's  friends  who  dreamed  of  the  re- 
storation of  an  exclusive  Government  of  pure  Whigs,  of 
which  the  Peelites  were  to  be  the  humble  followers. 
That  was  a  dream  of  the  past.  Such  exclusive  combina- 
tions had  now  become  impossible.  It  was  even  then  the 
dream  of  but  few,  but  the  influence  of  those  few  with  Lord 
John  was  altogether  disproportionate  to  their  numbers. 

In  the  midst  of  these  conflicting  views,  passions,  pre- 
judices, and  jealousies.  Lord  Aberdeen  sate  calm  and 
unruflled,  combining,  as  no  other  man  could  have  done, 
what  there  was  of  agreement  between  the  different  shades 
of  opinion,  and  minimising  the  occasions  of  difference.  To 
Lord  John  he  could  say  : 

I  am  sorry  you  should  have  felt  some  displeasure  at  Glad- 
stone's remarks,  although  I  cannot  say  it  is  surprising  that  you 
should  have  done  so  ;  but  you  must  forgive  him  for  repeating 

P 


2IO  LORD  ABERDEEN 

sentiments  which  we  have,  all  of  us,  been  in  the  habit  of  con- 
stantly expressing  for  years.  I  have  never  known  much  party 
bitterness  myself,  and,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  these  feelings 
have  long  ceased  to  exist. 

Lenit  albescens  animos  capillus. 

I  doubt  not  that  you  have  yourself  sometimes  attributed  motives 
to  Tory  opponents  which  further  experience  has  taught  you  to 
abandon.  (Gladstone  possesses  so  much  that  is  excellent  and 
amiable  in  character,  that  you  may  be  fully  persuaded,  if  it 
should  ever  be  your  fate  to  act  together,  you  will  find  in  him 
nothing  but  frankness  and  cordiality. 

With  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  he  thus  expostulated  : 

You  must  allow  me,  my  dear  Duke,  very  strongly  to  recom- 
mend to  you  a  disposition  to  put  the  most  charitable  con- 
struction upon  all  things.  If  we  are  to  act  at  all  with  Lord 
John,  it  is  clear  that,  to  do  so  to  any  good  purpose,  it  must  be 
upon  a  footing  of  mutual  confidence  and  respect.  He  may  have 
many  failings,  as  we  all  have  ;  but  if  I  did  not  think  him  essen- 
tially honourable  and  true,  there  could  be  no  cordiality  between 
us,  and  therefore  no  common  action. 

To  Mr.  Gladstone  he  wrote  from  Buchan  Ness  : 

I  will  not  delay  to  write  to  you,  although  I  must  say  that 
when  I  see  and  admire  the  various  forms  and  colours  of  my 
granite  cliffs,  and  when  I  recollect,  and  feel,  the  motto  which 
I  have  inscribed  over  the  door  of  my  house,^  I  almost  wonder 
that  I  should  encounter  subjects  so  little  calculated  to  give 
pleasure.  Long  habit,  the  desire  of  association  with  friends, 
and  perhaps  in  some  small  degree  a  sense  of  duty,  must  account 
for  it.  I  confess  that  after  the  events  of  the  last  six  years  I 
should  look  with  no  common  satisfaction  on  the  formation  of 
a  Government  mainly  under  the  auspices  of  Peel's  friends.  I 
still  think  that  Lord  John,  from  his  station  and  past  life,  is  the 
fittest  person  to  be  at  the  head  of  any  Liberal  Government ;  but 
he  appears  by  common  consent  to  be  out  of  the  question  at  this 
time.  Can  Peel's  friends  supply  his  place  ?  If  high  character 
and  ability  only  were  required,  you  would  be  the  person  ;  but  I 
am  aware  that,  at  present  at  least,  this  would  not  be  practicable. 
Whether  it  would  be  possible  for  Newcastle  or  me  to  undertake 
the  concern  I  cannot  say  ;  but  I  am  sure  that  it  must  be  essen- 
tially with  Liberal  support,  and  with  little  chance  of  accessions 
from  the  Protectionist  camp.  ...  I  am  not  afraid  of  the  effects 
of  reform,  and  I  have  no  doubt  the  abuses  are  sufficiently  great 
to  justify  those  who  seek  for  change.     But  I  much  doubt  the 

'  Frocul  negotiis  beatus. 


CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   SIR  JAMES   GRAHAM    211 

probability  of  any  great  improvement.  Influence,  intimidation, 
and  corruption  are  inseparable  from  any  representative  system, 
and,  with  all  our  professions,  the  English  are  as  venal  as  any 
people  in  Europe. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  told  Sir  James  Graham  that  he 

had,  in  his  opinion,  gone  too  far  in  unreserved  adhesion  to 

Lord  John  : 

I  have  a  great  respect  for  Lord  John,  and  should  very  much 
desire  to  see  him  at  the  head  of  a  Government  surrounded  by 
a  portion  of  Peel's  friends.  Both  he  and  they  are  already 
informed  of  this  desire  on  my  part ;  but  if  insuperable  obstacles 
arise  in  the  way  of  its  completion,  I  am  not  desirous,  as  an 
alternative,  of  seeing  him  at  the  head  of  a  Whig  Radical 
Government.  I  am  not  deficient  in  Liberal  views  either  at 
home  or  abroad,  but  I  cannot  altogether  renounce  my  Conser- 
vative character. 

Sir  James  Graham,  in  reply,  assured  Lord  Aberdeen 
that  the  only  person  to  whom  he  fixedly  adhered  was  him- 
self ;  and  at  a  later  date,  when  returning  the  correspondence 
after  having  perused  it  in  a  collected  form,  said  : 

I  cannot  say  that  I  have  read  it  with  pleasure,  except  the 
part  which  is  your  own.  You  have  exhausted  every  endeavour 
to  soothe  irritation  and  to  accommodate  differences,  but  I  fear 
that  your  success  falls  short  of  the  scope  and  merit  of  your 
exertions.  In  truth,  if  there  be  a  disposition  to  find  fault,  and 
not  to  forget  injuries,  the  transactions  of  the  last  twenty  years 
afford  ample  ground  for  accusation  and  resentment  on  both  sides  ; 
and  nothing  but  a  strong  sense  of  public  duty,  combined  with  a 
forgiving  temper  and  hearty  goodwill,  can  extinguish  jealousies 
and  enmities  such  as  the  strife  of  party  is  apt  to  engender. 

When  Parliament  met,  a  practical  accord  had  been 
established  between  the  Peelites  and  Whigs  for  Opposition 
purposes,  though  it  was  still  doubtful  whether  it  was  of  such  a 
nature  as  would  suffice  to  justify  official  co-operation.  While 
Mr.  Gladstone  was  bent  on  the  accomplishment  of  the 
impossible  task  of  separating  the  Conservative  party  from 
the  Conservative  Government,  Lord  John  and  his  friends 
naturally  regarded  any  such  aspirations  with  jealousy ;  as  their 
success  would  have  entirely  altered  the  balance  of  strength 

P  2 


212  LORD   ABERDEEN 

in  the  probably  impending  coalition,  and  would  have  rendered 
it  one  in  which  the  Conservative  element  would  be  domi- 
nant, instead  of  one  which  would  practically  consist  of  the 
old  Liberal  party  with  the  addition  of  a  few  Conservative 
elements. 

The  Government  escaped  defeat  at  the  opening  of  the 
session  by  accepting  the  Free  Trade  legislation  which  it 
had  hitherto  been  the  avowed  aim  of  the  Protectionist 
party  to  reverse  ;  but  it  was  clear  that  their  escape  was  but 
for  the  moment,  and  that  defeat  on  the  Budget  pro- 
posed by  Mr.  Disraeli  was  not  improbable.  In  these  cir- 
cumstances. Lord  Aberdeen,  Lord  Lansdowne,  and  Lord 
John  Russell  met  at  Woburn  Abbey,  and  discussed  the 
situation.  The  result  of  these  discussions  was  to  convince, 
at  all  events,  their  host  that,  in  the  event  of  the  overthrow  of 
the  existing  Government,  the  only  arrangement  which  could 
be  made  with  any  chance  of  permanent  stability  would  be 
that  Lord  Aberdeen  should  head  the  new  Cabinet,  and  that 
Lord  John  should  act  as  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

On  the  morning  of  Friday,  December  1 7th,  the  Govern- 
ment was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  nineteen.  Lord  Derby 
resigned  that  afternoon,  and  the  same  night  the  Queen 
sent  for  Lord  Aberdeen  and  Lord  Lansdowne  to  attend 
her  on  the  following  morning.  Lord  Lansdowne  was  too 
unwell  to  undertake  a  journey,  and  the  summons  being 
addressed  to  them  jointly.  Lord  Aberdeen  declined  to 
go  to  Osborne  alone,  unless  specially  commanded  to  do 
so.  Meanwhile  he  had  a  full  discussion  with  Lord  Lans- 
downe on  the  situation  of  affairs,  and  on  leaving  him  went 
to  Sir  James  Graham,  who  strongly  urged  the  impolicy  of 
his  accepting  any  joint  commission.  Any  offer  made  by 
him  to  Lord  John,  if  spontaneous,  would  be  a  pledge  both 
of  Lord  Aberdeen's  personal  regard  and  of  his  Liberal  policy. 


LORD  ABERDEEN   AND   LORD  JOHN   RUSSELL    213 

Mere  submission  to  the  will  of  the  Queen  on  his  part 
would  be  regarded  by  Lord  John  as  a  proof  of  royal  favour 
rather  than  of  his  personal  regard,  and  they  would  start 
as  co-equals  if  not  as  rivals.  Lord  Aberdeen  assented  to 
Sir  James  Graham's  reasoning,  and  assured  him  that  he 
could  only  accept  undivided  authority. 

While  returning  home  on  foot,  across  Hyde  Park,  from 
Sir  James  Graham's  house  in  Grosvenor  Place,  Lord  Aber- 
deen met  Lord  John  Russell,  and  they  took  a  walk  together  in 
the  park.  Lord  Aberdeen  told  Lord  John  of  his  visit  to 
Lord  Lansdowne,  and  of  his  intention  to  proceed  to  Osborne 
alone  the  next  day,  if  summoned.  Lord  John  had  that 
morning  received  a  letter  from  his  brother  the  Duke  of 
Bedford,  by  whose  advice  he  was  often  guided,  to  the  effect 
that  political  and  party  differences  could  be  best  solved  by 
Lord  Aberdeen  consenting  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  new  Government,  and  Lord  John  leading  the  House 
of  Commons.  The  Duke  wrote  in  similar  terms  to  Lord 
Aberdeen  himself,  adding  : 

I  need  not  trouble  you  with  the  reasons  that  have  forced 
this  conclusion  upon  me,  but  I  am  quite  satisfied  that  no  other 
arrangement  would  give  us  any  chance  of  a  strong  and  lasting 
Government.  I  trust,  therefore,  your  sense  of  public  duty  will 
induce  you  to  accept  the  task. 

Influenced  probably  by  his  brother's  letter,  Lord  John 
authorised  Lord  Aberdeen  to  inform  the  Queen  that  he 
was  willing,  should  it  be  Her  Majesty's  pleasure,  to  accept 
the  seals  of  the  Foreign  Office,  and  conduct  the  Govern- 
ment business  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Lord  Aberdeen 
praised  the  generosity  of  the  offer,  and  closed  with  it  on  the 
spot.  Strengthened  by  it,  he  proceeded  the  next  morning 
*to  Osborne.  He  told  the  Queen  fairly  that  Lord  Lans- 
downe, had  he  been  able  to  attend  the  Queen's  summons, 
would  have  advised  her  to  associate  Lord  John  with  Lord 


214  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Aberdeen  in  the  commission  to  form  a  Government,  but  he 
added,  that  he  must  also  inform  Her  Majesty  that  he  must 
have  dedined  any  such  divided  authority,  for  the  emergency 
required  her  concentrated  confidence  and  entire  sanction. 
The  Queen  and  Prince  at  once  adopted  the  view  taken  by 
Lord  Aberdeen,  and  before  he  left  the  closet  he  kissed  the 
Queen's  hand  as  her  First  Minister.     On  returning  to  town 
in  the  evening  he  went  at  once  to  Lord  John  Russell,  and 
proceeded  to  discuss  with  him  the  formation  of  the  new 
Cabinet.    The  following  morning,  however,  Lord  Aberdeen 
received   a   note  from  Lord  John,  stating   that  a   night's 
reflection  had  convinced  him  that  he  was  '  not  equal  to  the 
work  of  the  Foreign  Office,  with  the  lead   of  the  House 
of  Commons,'  and  intimating  an  inclination  to  take  the 
Home  Office.      This  letter  was  speedily  followed  by  the 
appearance  at  Argyll  House  of  Lord  John  himself ;  and  it 
then  became  apparent  that,   although  apprehension  of  the 
fatigue   of  the   Foreign  Office  was  really  felt  by  him,  he 
was  more  largely  influenced  by  apprehension  of  the  eflect 
likely   to   be    produced   on   his   political   friends    by    his 
acceptance    of    any   office   whatsoever :    an   apprehension 
which  led  him  not  only  to   retract   his  offer  to  take  the 
Foreign  Office,  but  also  to  refuse  to  form  any  part  of  the 
new   Administration  ;    to   which,  however,  he    offered   his 
support.     There  is  reason  to  suppose  that,  down  to  the  time 
when  he  saw  Lord  Aberdeen  after  his  return  from  Osborne 
on  Sunday  night,  Lord  John  had  not  communicated  to  any 
one  the  ofl'er  which  he  had  made,  or  his  intention  of  com- 
plying with  the  advice  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford  ;  and  that, 
when  those  in  his  most  intimate  confidence  became  aware 
of  that  intention,  any  hesitation  or  reluctance  he  may  have 
felt  to  take  the  step  contemplated  was  so  worked  on  as  to 
induce  him  to  withdraw  from  joint  action  with  Lord  Aber- 


CABINET   MAlCtNG  ±1^ 

deen.  Lord  Aberdeen's  position  was,  of  course,  wholly 
changed  by  this  determination.  To  head  a  Government 
dependent  for  its  existence  on  the  wayward  support  of  Lord 
John  free  from  all  the  obligations  of  office,  and  necessarily 
composed  to  a  great  extent  of  men  who  would  look  for 
guidance  to  their  old  chief  rather  than  to  the  actual  Prime 
Minister,  as  would  also  the  majority  of  the  supporters  of  the 
new  Government  in  the  House  of  Commons,  was  to  place 
himself  in  a  position  which  he  at  least  never  would  consent 
to  assume ;  and  he  at  once  determined,  if  Lord  John  per- 
severed in  the  resolution  now  announced,  to  resign  the  com- 
mission which  he  had  undertaken  during  the  existence  of  a 
different  state  of  things.  On  the  following  day  (Tuesday,  2  ist) 
Lord  John  offered  to  lead  the  House  of  Commons  without 
office,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  22  nd  so  far  reverted  to  his 
original  proposal  as  to  consent  to  accept  the  Foreign  Office, 
provided  his  tenure  of  that  post  were  of  short  duration, 
and  he  were  then  allowed  to  assume  the  position  of  Leader 
of  the  House  of  Commons  without  office,  which  he  had 
chosen.  An  anxious  week  followed  before  the  Administra- 
tion was  finally  formed.  It  was,  of  course,  impossible  that 
all  those  who  had  held  office  under  Lord  John  Russell  two 
years  before  should  be  included  in  a  Government  which 
necessarily  comprised  members  of  the  Peelite  party,  who 
by  their  talents,  and  by  the  share  they  had  taken  in  the 
overthrow  of  Lord  Derby,  were  marked  out  for  Cabinet 
office.  But  every  disappointed  Whig  considered  himself 
the  victim  of  injustice,  and  complained  that  he  was  ill- 
used  by  Lord  Aberdeen  and  abandoned  by  Lord  John, 
who  was  by  no  means  allowed  to  repose  upon  a  bed  of 
roses.  So  strong  was  this  feeling  that,  after  the  Cabinet  had 
been  formed,  and  all  the  great  offices  of  State  disposed  of, 
with  Lord  John's  full  assent,  he  insisted  on  the  addition  of 


2l6  LORD  ABERDEEN 

other  Whig  members  to  the   Cabinet.     Sir  James  Graham 

wrote  in  his  diary  : 

I  discussed  these  matters  at  Argyll  House  with  Lord  Aber- 
deen and  Lord  John  :  if  we  three  were  left  alone,  we  could 
easily  adjust  every  difficulty  ;  it  is  the  intervention  of  interested 
parties  on  opposite  sides  which  mars  every  settlement.  ...  I 
never  passed  a  week  so  unpleasantly.  It  was  a  battle  for 
places  from  hostile  camps,  and  the  Whigs  disregarded  fitness 
for  the  public  service  altogether.  They  fought  for  their  men 
as  partisans,  and  all  other  considerations  as  well  as  conse- 
quences were  disregarded.  Lord  Aberdeen's  patience  and 
justice  are  exemplary  ;  he  is  firm  and  yet  conciliatory,  and  has 
ended  by  making  an  arrangement  which  is  on  the  whole 
impartial,  and  quite  as  satisfactory  as  circumstances  would 
admit. 

The  same  hand  thus  described  the  new  Cabinet  when 

formed  : 

It  is  a  powerful  team,  but  it  will  require  good  driving. 
There  are  some  odd  tempers  and  queer  ways  among  them  ; 
but  on  the  whole  they  are  gentlemen,  and  they  have  a  perfect 
gentleman  at  their  head,  who  is  honest  and  direct,  and  who 
will  not  brook  insincerity  in  others. 

It   is   impossible   to  dissociate   the   Aberdeen   Cabinet 

from   the   chief  event   which   marked   its   existence, — the 

Crimean   War ;   and    the   coalition    has  accordingly   been 

regarded  as  a  failure.     With  that  war  and  its  causes  I  will 

hereafter  deal.     But  the  year  of  peace  which  preceded  it 

is  well  worthy  of  attention,  and  its  annals  show  that  the 

coalition,  far  from  being  a  failure,  was  during  that  period  a 

remarkable  success.     It  would  have  continued  to  be  so,  but 

for  the  unfortunate  differences  which  arose  with  regard  to 

foreign  affairs.      There  has  seldom  been  a  more  brilliant 

session   than   that   of   1853,    or   one  which   closed    more 

triumphantly  for  the   Government  of  the  day.     The  first 

Budget  of  Mr.  Gladstone  gave  it  illustration,  and  marked 

him  out,  more  distinctly  than  had  even  been  the  case  before, 

as  the  future  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons.     That  this 

remarkable  Budget  w^as  presented  in  an  unmutilated  form 


SESSION   OF    1853  ^17 

was  due  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  whose  steady  support  never 
wavered,  and  who  refused  to  allow  a  single  alteration  in  it, 
in  spite  of  the  alarms  of  many  of  his  colleagues  and  hints  of 
resignation  from  more  than  one. 

Discouraged  by  the  reception  of  his  scheme,  and 
not  then  possessing  the  self-confidence  conferred  by  the 
long  exercise  of  authority,  Mr.  Gladstone  began  to  doubt 
whether  he  could  be  right,  or  at  all  events  whether  it  would 
be  fair  to  his  colleagues,  to  drag  them  reluctantly  after  him, 
and  whether  he  ought  not  therefore  to  modify  or  abandon 
his  scheme.  He  accordingly  went  to  Lord  Aberdeen  to 
state  this  doubt,  and  leave  to  him  its  decision.  Without  a 
moment's  hesitation  Lord  Aberdeen  at  once  pronounced 
that  any  modification  would  spoil  the  plan,  and  bade  Mr. 
Gladstone  proceed,  saying  that  he  would  make  himself 
responsible  for  the  acceptance  of  the  scheme  by  the 
Cabinet.  After  this  interview,  Mr.  Gladstone  says  he  hesi- 
tated no  more,  and  felt  no  further  doubt  as  to  the  course 
he  should  pursue. 

The  Government  of  India  Bill,  in  itself  a  great  measure, 
was  carried  virtually  as  proposed  by  the  Government,  which 
indeed  met  with  no  check  or  rebuff  during  the  whole  session. 
But,  above  all,  the  fusion  of  the  Peelites  with  the  general 
body  of  the  Liberal  party  was  practically  complete.  On 
all  questions  of  domestic  administration,  save  Reform,  the 
Cabinet  was  essentially  at  one,  and  where  its  members 
differed,  whether  on  home  or  foreign  affairs,  the  line  of 
cleavage  between  them  was  not  that  of  the  parties  to  which 
they  had  formerly  belonged.  The  opponents  of  parliamen- 
tary reform  counted  but  one  member  of  the  Peelites  among 
their  number,  who  on  this  point  was  in  agreement  with  two 
old  Whigs.  Nor  on  the  great  question  of  the  negotiations 
with  Russia  was  the  division  one  between  those  who  had 


2l8  LORD   ABERDEEN 

followed  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  those  who  had  followed  Lord 
John  Russell.  The  decided  war  party  in  the  Cabinet  con- 
sisted of  Lord  Lansdowne,  Lord  Palmerston,  and  the  Duke 
of  Newcastle.  Lord  John  Russell's  uncertain  influence  was 
to  be  found  now  on  the  one  side  and  now  on  the  other. 
But  all  the  other  members  of  the  Cabinet,  without  an  ex- 
ception, not  only  agreed  with  Lord  Aberdeen  in  desiring  the 
preservation  of  peace,  but  also  as  to  the  measures  most  likely 
to  preserve  it.  '  Remember  that  the  silent  members  of  the 
Cabinet  are  all  with  you,'  wrote  Lord  Granville,  then  Presi- 
dent of  the  Council,  in  the  summer  of  1853,  after  a  hot 
discussion  had  taken  place  as  to  the  degree  of  support  to  be 
afforded  to  Turkey.  When,  shortly  after  the  close  of  the 
session,  the  acceptance  by  the  Emperor  of  Russia  of  the  Vienna 
Note  appeared  to  put  an  end  to  all  danger  to  the  continu- 
ance of  peace.  Lord  Aberdeen  considered  his  work  as  done. 
He  had  conducted  the  Government  triumphantly  through 
a  session  of  Parliament  ;  he  had,  as  he  fondly  thought, 
preserved  peace  when  endangered  ;  he  had  established 
cordial  unity  of  action  between  his  own  friends  and  those  of 
Lord  John  ;  Ireland  was  quiet  and  prosperous,  and  the 
irritation  caused  by  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bills  had  to  a 
great  degree  subsided,  now  that  the  measure  was  seen  to  be 
totally  inoperative.  Lord  Aberdeen  therefore  thought  the 
time  had  come  when  he  might  retire  in  Lord  John's  favour. 
He  obtained  the  assent,  though  the  reluctant  assent,  of  most 
of  his  friends  to  this  arrangement,  and  felt  no  doubt  as 
to  his  power  ultimately  to  persuade  those  members  of  the 
Cabinet  most  averse  to  the  step  to  consent  to  it.  He  anti- 
cipated escape  in  a  few  weeks  from  the  fatigues  of  office, 
and  the  satisfaction  of  leaving  to  Lord  John  the  chief  place 
in  a  united  Cabinet,  Liberal,  but  yet  Conservative,  in  its 
principles.     His  hopes  were  destined  to  disappointment. 


219 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE    CRIMEAN    WAR 

Prince  Menschikoff's  Mission — Count  Nesselrode's  Forecast  of  Events 
— Alarm  felt  in  England — The  Principalities  occupied  by  Russia 
— The  Vienna  Note— Subsequent  Negotiations— Battle  of  Sinope 
— Declaration  of  War — Policy  of  Lord  Aberdeen  during  the  War. 

I  NOW  enter  on  the  saddest  chapter  of  this  story — that 
which  relates  how,  under  the  administration  of  the  most 
devoted  lover  of  peace  who  has  governed  the  country  since 
the  Revolution,  England  became  involved  in  the  only 
European  war  in  which  she  has  taken  part  for  the  last 
seventy-five  years. 

It  is,  I  think,  impossible  for  any  one  who  now  calmly 
reviews  the  question,  to  deny  that  Russia  had  fair  cause  for 
complaint  against  the  Porte,  and  was  entitled — perhaps, 
indeed,  required  by  a  due  regard  to  her  own  honour — to 
demand  some  reparation  from  her.  Concessions  had  been 
made,  at  the  dictation  of  France,  to  the  Latin  clergy  which 
were  clearly  irreconcilable  with  pledges  given  to  Russia,  and 
the  demand  made  by  her  that  members  of  the  Greek  Church 
should  enjoy  equal  privileges  with  the  members  of  other 
Christian  communities  was  not  in  itself  unjust  or  even  un- 
reasonable. Indeed,  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that, 
but  for  interference  from  without.  Prince  Menschikoff,  who 
had  been  sent  to  Constantinople  on  a  special  mission  for  the 
purpose,  would  have  come  to  a  satisfactory  arrangement  with 
the  Porte  on  this  subject.     The  history  of  the  negotiations 


220  LORD  ABERDEEN 

published  by  the  Russian  Government^  shows  that  Menschi- 
koff  all  but  accepted  the  provision  which,  as  the  condition  of 
their  signing  it,  the  Turks  wished  to  insert  in  the  convention 
proposed  by  him  ;  and  that  he  would  have  done  so,  had 
he  not  thought  the  request  to  be,  as  in  fact  it  was,  the  result 
of  foreign  dictation. 

The  English  Government  prudently  refused  to  comply 
with  Colonel  Rose's  request,  that  the  English  fleet  should 
be  sent  to  the  entrance  of  the  Dardanelles  on  the  arrival  of 
Prince  Menschikoff's  mission  at  Constantinople  ;  but  the 
action  of  the  French  Emperor,  who,  without  waiting  for 
English  co-operation,  at  once  despatched  the  Toulon  fleet  to 
Smyrna,  seriouslycomplicated  the  situation,  and  by  its  implied 
menace  made  it  more  difficult  for  the  Emperor  Nicholas  to 
recede  from  his  demands,  or  even  modify  them.  Into  the 
secret  schemes  of  Louis  Napoleon  we  cannot  penetrate  ;  but 
it  does  no  injustice  to  his  character  to  believe  that  he 
deliberately  desired  a  breach  with  Russia  which  would  en- 
able him  not  only  to  win  glory  for  the  French  arms  in  the 
East,  but  to  do  so  without  exciting  the  ill-will  of  England  ; 
nay,  more,  which  might  enable  him  to  exhibit  England  to 
Europe  as  his  ally  in  a  war  in  which  his  armies  must  play  a 
far  more  considerable  part  than  hers.  This  was  the  opinion 
of  Count  Nesselrode.  In  a  private  letter  written  immediately 
after  the  proclamation  of  the  French  Empire  in  December 
1852,  not  addressed  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  but  intended  for  his 
perusal,  he  had  said  : 

Voici,  je  le  crains,  quel  pent  etre  son  plan  et  la  mani^re 
dont  il  raisonne.  Louis  Napoleon  doit  s'etre  dit.  .  .  .  '  Ce  que 
I'Occident  me  refuse,  il  faut  le  chercher  en  Orient.  Brouillons 
la  Russie  et  la  Porte,  en  obligeant  celle-ci,  par  mes  exigences, 
k  mecontenter  et  insulter  la  premiere.  Ou  la  Russie,  par 
eloignement  pour  la  guerre,  ddvorera  en  silence  les  affronts 

•  A  Diplomatic  Study  of  the  Crimean  War,  1 880. 


LETTER   FROM   COUNT   NESSELRODE  221 

que  je  forcerai  les  Turcs  k  lui  faire  subir,  ou  bien  elle  perdra 
patience,  et  voudra  en  avoir  raison,  en  prenant  I'initiative  de  la 
guerre.  'Dans  le  premier  cas,  rien  de  mieux.  J e  serai  parvenu 
k  aneantir  le  credit  de  la  Russie  en  Orient,  et  k  mettre  I'influ- 
ence  Frangaise  au-dessus  de  toutes  les  autres,  y  compris 
I'Angleterre.  Dans  le  second  cas,  si,  poussee  k  bout,  la  Russie 
a  recours  k  la  guerre,  cette  guerre-la,  soutenue  au  nom  de 
rindependance  et  de  I'integrite  de  la  Porte,  je  la  ferai  dans  de 
toutes  autres  conditions  que  je  ne  pourrais  la  faire  en  Occident. 
II  ne  s'agira  plus  pour  moi  de  combattre  seul  et  sans  allies 
contre  une  coalition.  C'est  la  Russie  qui,  k  son  tour,  se 
trouvera  seule  et  sans  allies,  contre  tout  le  monde.  C'est  de  la 
gloire,  et  du  bruit,  k  bon  marche  comparativement.  En  atten- 
dant, mes  forces  principales  restent  sur  pied  en  Occident.  Elles 
continuent  par  leur  attitude  a  inquieter  I'Autriche  et  la  Prusse, 
k  maintenir  dans  ma  dependance  les  petits  Etats  de  I'Allemagne, 
et  de  ritalie,  et  k  m'assurer,  sans  danger  serieux,  la  suprematie 
politique  en  Europe. 

*  II  est  bien  vrai  que  la  Russie,  si  elle  nous  est  inferieure  sur 
mer,  conserverait  contre  la  Turquie  la  libre  disposition  de  ses 
forces  de  terre.  Elle  pent  occuper  les  Principautes,  franchir 
de  nouveau  les  Balkans,  soulever  les  populations  Chretiennes 
de  son  rit,  entrer  k  Constantinople,  renverser  I'Empire  Otto- 
man !  Eh  bien,  soit,  qu'elle  le  renverse  !  Elle  ne  saurait  tout 
prendre  ;  encore  moins,  tout  garder.  Et  d^s  lors  surgit  la 
question  du  partage.  Maroc,  Tunis,  I'Egypte,  la  Palestine,  la 
Syrie,  Candie,  dans  tout  cela  assurement  je  puis  pretendre  k 
quelque  chose.  Sinon — obtenir  en  Europe,  k  titre  d'indemnites 
pour  ce  que  j'abandonnerai  k  d'autres  en  Orient,  la  Belgique, 
la  Savoie,  la  fronti^re  Rhenane.  II  y  a  Ik  de  quoi  negocier,  de 
quoi  remanier  de  mille  fagons  la  carte  territoriale  de  I'Europe. 
L'oeuvre  de  1815  aura  ete  mise  k  neant.  Le  retablissement  de 
I'Empire  n'aura  pas  ete  un  vain  mot.  II  aura,  comme  il  me  le 
faut  pour  ma  gloire,  et  mes  interets  de  conservation,  agrandi 
au  dehors  les  limites  et  la  force  morale  de  la  France.' 

Convenez  que  si  ce  plan  n'est  pas  reel  il  est  au  moins  tr^s 
plausible.  Sa  mise  k  execution  nous  placerait  dans  la  plus 
facheuse  des  positions  : — celle  de  jouer  forcement  le  jeu  de 
Louis-Napoleon  ;  soit  que  nous  nous  resignions  k  la  paix,  soit 
que  nous  prenions  les  armes. 

Count  Nesselrode's  forecast  of  the  future  was  prophetic. 
The  theory  put  forward  by  him  is,  as  he  himself  says,  '  at 
least  plausible.'  That  Louis  Napoleon,  when  he  sent  the 
Toulon  fleet  to  Smyrna,  shared  the  apprehensions  of  an 
immediate   Russian   descent   on   Constantinople,  honestly 


222  LORD  ABERDEEN 

entertained  by  Colonel  Rose,  it  is  impossible  to  suppose. 
That  he  wished  to  embroil  England  and  Russia  is  not 
improbable.  That  he  had  rendered  any  peaceful  accom- 
modation of  the  question  more  difficult  is  unquestionable. 

On  the  withdrawal  of  Prince  Menschikoff  from  Con- 
stantinople renewed  apprehension  was  felt  of  an  immedi- 
ate descent  of  Russian  forces  on  Constantinople,  and  Lord 
Palmerston,  in  a  letter  to  Sir  James  Graham,  urged  that  the 
English  fleet,  in  conjunction  with  that  of  France,  should 
be  sent  to  the  nearest  safe  anchorage  to  the  Dardanelles, 
ready  to  proceed  at  once  to  the  defence  of  Constantinople 
should  it  appear  endangered.     Lord  Aberdeen  replied  : 

My  great  objection  to  the  course  proposed  is,  that  it  does 
nothing  effectual.  Sending  our  fleet  into  Turkish  waters  ap- 
pears, in  the  eyes  of  the  public,  to  be  a  vigorous  and  decisive 
step  ;  but  in  truth  it  affords  no  protection  whatever  to  the  Turks. 
Sir  Baldwin  Walker  tells  you  that,  for  any  practical  purpose,  there 
is  little  difference  between  Malta  and  Smyrna.  He  says  that  a 
Russian  force  could  land  without  difficulty  at  a  point  near  the 
entrance  of  the  Bosphorus  and  advance  to  Constantinople, 
even  if  the  English  fleet  should  be  at  the  Dardanelles.  I  know 
the  spot  well,  from  which  the  distance  to  the  city  is  only  about 
fifteen  or  twenty  miles.  This  makes  an  end  of  all  the  elaborate 
calculations  of  the  time  required  by  the  Russians  to  march 
from  the  Bay  of  Bourgas,  or  any  distant  point  on  the  Black  Sea. 
I  have  the  greatest  reliance  on  the  opinion  of  Sir  Baldwin 
Walker  ;  I  have  none  whatever  on  that  of  Colonel  Rose.  If, 
therefore,  you  expect  a  coup  de  main^  it  is  not  at  the  Dardanelles 
that  you  can  prevent  it ;  for  you  are  aware,  too,  that  the  wind 
in  these  waters  is  northerly  during  the  whole  of  the  summer 
months. 

If  we  have  good  reason  to  expect  an  attack  on  Constanti- 
nople, and  are  disposed  to  quarrel  with  Russia  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Turks,  we  ought  to  approach  the  capital,  or  rather 
to  enter  the  Black  Sea,  by  which  means  any  naval  movement 
on  the  part  of  Russia  could  effectually  be  stopped. 

The  only  effect  of  such  half-measures  as  are  recommended 
would  be  to  release  the  Emperor  of  Russia  from  the  obligations 
which  he  has  voluntarily  contracted  towards  us,  without  accom- 
plishing our  own  object. 

It  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  the  removal  of  our  fleet, 
under  the  circumstances  in  which  it  will  take  place,  can  be 


ADVANCE   OF   THE   FLEETS  223 

regarded  as  merely  a  friendly  visit  in  a  Turkish  port,  or  that 
it  bears  any  resemblance  to  the  case  mentioned  of  a  French 
fleet  being  recently  anchored  in  Torbay.  It  can  only  be 
considered  as  a  menace,  and  must  be  so  intended. 

As  we  do  not  know  the  manner  in  which  the  diplomatic 
rupture  has  taken  place  (which,  of  itself,  by  no  means  involves 
the  necessity  of  war),  I  think  it  is  unwise  to  give  up  the  moral 
guarantee  we  now  possess  of  the  conduct  of  the  Emperor 
towards  us  for  no  definite  object.  If  he  should  violate  his 
engagements  towards  us,  and  give  us  real  ground  of  offence, 
if  we  act  at  all,  we  ought  to  resent  it  worthily,  and  not  by  a 
poor  demonstration  which  only  insults  him,  and  does  nothing 
effectual  either  for  us  or  for  the  Power  we  desire  to  protect. 

Lord  Aberdeen's    task  in  the  management  of  his  own 

Cabinet  was  not  easy.     Though  prepared  to  support   him 

■loyally  in  case  of  his  deciding  that  the  fleet  should  remain 

at  Malta,  even  his  own  immediate  friends  were  in  favour 

gf  an  advance  eastwards  ;  some,  because  they  were  really 

apprehensive   as   to   the  safety  of  Constantinople ;   some, 

because  they  thought   the   step   would   be  attended   with 

popularity  ;  some,  because  it  was,  ostensibly  and  technically, 

merely  such  a  change    of  position  as  the    Mediterranean 

fleet  was  accustomed  to  make  on  the  approach  of  summer. 

But,  through  all  these  negotiations,  Lord  Aberdeen  had  a 

yet  greater  difficulty  to  deal  with  than  the  wishes  of  his 

own  colleagues — the  imperative  exigencies  and  the  uncertain 

faith  of  the  ally  with  whom  we  were  acting.     The  French 

Emperor  urged  the  advance  of  the  fleets  to  the  Dardanelles 

in  terms  that  could  not   be  trifled  with,  and   all   the  less 

because  the  English  Government  had  some  reason  to  believe 

that,  while  pressing  for  such   a  demonstration,  he  was  at 

the  same  time  secretly  making  overtures  to  the  Emperor 

Nicholas  for  an  alliance  on  the  basis  of  common  hostility 

to    England.     Lord  Aberdeen  felt  that  he  must  give  way, 

and  be  content  w^ith   depriving  the  step  of  any  character 

of  marked  hostility.     He  wrote  to  Lord  Clarendon  : 

I  should  have  wished,  before  moving  our  fleet,  to  know  the 


224  LORD  ABERDEEN 

circumstances  under  which  Menschikoff  left  Constantinople, 
and  of  which,  at  present,  we  are  not  perfectly  informed.  If 
friendly  interference  be  still  possible,  we  may,  perhaps,  sacrifice 
our  chance  of  using  it  with  effect,  after  having  adopted  a  step 
so  hostile  to  Russia. 

The  Cabinet,  or  at  least  a  portion  of  it,  appears  to  wish 
that  the  fleet  should  sail,  without  waiting  to  know  on  what 
footing  Russia  and  the  Porte  had  been  placed  by  the  rupture 
of  the  negotiation.     I   do  not  object  to  this,  but  I  think  you 

Vjl  should  communicate  frankly  to  Russia  the  motive  and  spirit  of 
'I  our  movement.  It  is  possible  that  the  step  we  shall  have 
taken  may  not  destroy  our  salutary  influence  so  much  as  I  fear. 
Looking  to  the  means  of  preserving  and  restoring  peace  as 
the  great  object  we  ought  always  to  have  in  view,  I  think  our 
best  prospect  of  success  is  to  be  found  in  the  union  of  the  four 
Powers,  and  in  their  firm  but  friendly  representations  at  St. 
Petersburg. 

The  authority  given  to  Lord  Stratford  to  call  up  the  fleet, 
to  Constantinople  is  a  fearful  power  to  place  in  the  hands  of 
any  minister,  involving  as  it  does  the  question  of  peace  or  war. 
The  passage  of  the  Dardanelles,  being  a  direct  violation  of 
treaty,  would  make  us  the  aggressors,  and  give  to  Russia  a 
just  cause  of  war.  It  is  most  important,  therefore,  that  Lord 
Stratford  should  not  have  recourse  to  such  a  step,  except  under 
the  pressure  of  actual  hostilities,  or  under  circumstances  fully 
equivalent  to  such  a  state.  It  is  right  that  we  should  know  on 
what  grounds — short  of  the  occupation  of  Constantinople  by  a 
foreign  force — the  Parliament  and  people  of  this  country  would 
be  prepared  to  enter  into  a  war  on  behalf  of  such  a  State  as 
Turkey. 

On  July  2,  1853,  the  Russian  armies  crossed  the  Pruth 
and  occupied  the  provinces  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia, 
which  the  Emperor  Nicholas  declared  his  intention  of 
holding  until  the  Porte  had  given  him  the  satisfaction  he 
required.  The  act,  which  would  have  been  perfectly  legiti- 
mate as  an  act  of  war,  was  high-handed  and  unjustifiable 
on  the  part  of  a  Power  at  peace  with  the  sovereign  whose 
territories  were  thus  invaded.  It  would  have  warranted 
an  immediate  declaration  of  war  on  the  part  of  Turkey. 
Possibly  it  was  intended  to  provoke  one,  but  more  probably 
the  Emperor  of  Russia  regarded  it  as  a  proof  of  modera- 
tion on  his  part.     He  had  causes  of  grievance  against  the 


THE   PRINCIPALITIES   INVADED  22$ 

Porte  which  were  unremoved.  He  had  exhausted  the  re- 
sources of  direct  negotiation,  and,  in  his  own  opinion  at 
least,  would  have  been  fully  justified  in  striving  to  obtain 
reparation  by  force.  In  abstaining  from  hostilities,  and 
in  occupying,  as  a  material  guarantee,  not  an  integral  part 
of  the  Turkish  Empire,  but  two  provinces  which  were 
already  virtually  independent  of  the  Sultan's  control,  he 
probably  considered  that  he  acted  with  self-restraint  and 
forbearance. 

The  English  Cabinet  was  unanimously  of  opinion  that 
the  Porte  should  be  advised  not  to  meet  the  Russian 
invasion  by  a  declaration  of  war,  and  that  efforts  should  be 
made,  in  conjunction  with  France,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  to  dis- 
cover terms  of  accommodation  which  Turkey  might  offer  and 
Russia  accept.  The  grave  importance  which  France  and 
England  attached  to  the  transactions  in  progress  was  already 
marked  by  the  approach  of  their  fleets  to  the  Dardanelles, 
a  measure  at  which  the  Emperor  Nicholas  was  not  entitled 
to  take  umbrage,  for  it  conveyed  no  overt  threat ;  but 
which  was  quite  sufficient  to  intimate  to  him  that  any  fur- 
ther forward  movement  on  his  part  would  call  forth. the 
active  opposition  of  France  and  England.  In  the  advice 
given  to  the  Porte,  Lord  Palmerston  concurred ;  but  a  few 
days  later,  on  the  publication  of  a  circular  by  Count  Nes- 
selrode,  in  which  the  invasion  of  the  Principalities  was 
treated  as  a  set-off  against  the  attitude  assumed  by  the 
French  and  English  fleets,  he  recommended  that  the  fleets 
should  pass  the  Dardanelles  and  take^postjnjhe  Bosphorus, 
or  even  enter  the  Black  Sea.  Lord  Aberdeen  made  a 
minute  on  this  proposal  as  follows  : 

There  is,  at  last,  every  probability  that  our  endeavours  to 
preserve  peace  are  now  on  the  point  of  being  attended  with 
success.  We  have  prepared  a  form  of  Convention  between 
Russia  and   the  Porte   which   is   cordially   supported  by  the 

.     Q 


226  LORD   ABERDEEN 

French  Government.  It  preserves  the  dignity  of  the  Sultaii, 
and  gives  to  the  Emperor  everything  he  can  reasonably 
demand.  Indeed,  it  fulfils  all  the  conditions  which  Count 
Nesselrode  has  himself  repeatedly  described  as  being  neces- 
sary for  the  restoration  of  friendly  relations  with  the  Porte. 
•  The  language  of  Austria  has  of  late  become  more  firm  and 
independent,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  our  plan  of 
Convention  will  be  warmly  adopted  at  Vienna. 

Under  these  circumstances,  if  other  projects  of  settlement 
already  made  the  subject  of  discussion  should  fail,  we  have 
good  ground  to  hope  that  the  plan  of  Convention  proposed  by 
us  will  be  successful,  unless  we  shall  create  fresh  difficulties  by 
our  own  imprudence. 

It  may  readily  be  admitted  that  Count  Nesselrode's  last 
circular,  although  with  some  pacific  expressions,  is,  in  its  gen- 
eral character  and  language,  open  to  very  serious  objections. 
The  assertion  that  the  entrance  of  the  Russian  troops  into  the 
Principalities  was  produced  by  the  appearance  of  the  combined 
English  and  French  fleets  in  the  Dardanelles  is  not  only  not 
true  in  point  of  fact,  but,  even  if  such  had  been  the  case,  would 
have  left  the  act  itself  equally  unjustifiable.  I  think,  therefore, 
that  this  circular  should  be  answered  in  a  tone  of  grave  expostu- 
lation and  remonstrance,  but  with  calmness  and  dignity  ;  and 
while  plainly  expressing  our  own  sense  of  the  proceeding, 
taking  care,  at  the  same  time,  not  to  aggravate  the  difference 
by  passion  or  invective. 

When  the  four  Powers  simultaneously  advised  the  Porte 
not  to  regard  the  entrance  of  the  Russian  troops  into  the 
Principalities  as  a  casus  belli^  but  to  meet  it  only  with  a  solemn 
protest,  it  was  not  that  they  attached  any  weight  to  the 
declaration  of  the  Emperor  that  he  did  not  intend  to  make 
war  upon  Turkey,  or  that  they  entertained  any  doubt  of  an  act 
of  real  hostility  having  been  committed,  but  they  wished 
to  accept  his  declaration  so  far  as  to  preserve  in  their  own 
hands  the  means  of  negotiation  with  greater  hopes  of  success 
than  if  the  utmost  extremity  of  war  had  been  proclaimed.  We 
were  bound,  therefore,  to  make  use  of  this  interval  in  the 
interest  of  peace,  and  fortunately  may  now  congratulate  our- 
selves on  the  prospect  before  us. 

But  if  we  answer  Count  Nesselrode's  note  by  sending  our 
fleet  into  the  Bosphorus  or  the  Black  Sea,  what  shall  we  gain 
by  this  empty  bravado  ?  We  shall  have  violated  the  stipula- 
tions of  a  treaty  and  have  made  the  chances  of  peace  infinitely 
less  probable.  Instead  of  such  logic  as  this,  it  would  be  more 
reasonable  at  once  to  declare  war,  and  no  longer  to  pretend  to 
seek  peace  while  we  adopt  measures  calculated  to  render  it 
unattainable. 

When  the  Cabinet  determined  to  send  the  fleet  from  Malta 


FRANCE  OPPOSED  TO  DRAFT   CONVENTION    22/ 

to  the  Dardanelles,  it  was  not  to  insult  Russia,  but  to  be  at 
hand  in  order  to  protect  Constantinople  should  it  be  necessary. 
Constantinople  is  not  in  danger,  nor  is  it  threatened  ;  but  if  at 
any  time  information,  really  credible,  should  be  obtained  of 
preparations  at  Sebastopol,  or  elsewhere,  for  such  an  attack, 
the  combined  fleets  might  properly  leave  their  present  position 
and  repair  at  once  to  the  scene  of  action. 

It  may  be  well  to  observe  that  the  only  hostile  operation 
contemplated  by  the  Cabinet  has  been  the  defence  of  Con- 
stantinople against  a  Russian  attack.  How  far  we  may  con- 
tract engagements  with  the  Porte,  in  the  event  of  actual  war, 
and  under  what  circumstances  we  should  find  ourselves  justi- 
fied in  being  finally  committed  against  Russia,  ought  to  be  the 
subject  of  future  deliberation. 

We  are  at  present  bound  by  no  stipulations  of  treaty  in  this 
respect,  and  are  free  to  adopt  such  a  course  as  may  appear  most 
consistent  with  our  real  interests  and  honour. 

The  arguments  of  Lord  Aberdeen  convinced  even  the 
authors  of  the  proposal.  Lord  John  wrote  :  *  I  agree 
generally  in  the  views  you  have  expressed  in  your  paper 
in  answer  to  Palmerston.'  'And  Lord  Palmerston  himself 
wrote  :  '  I  acquiesce  in  your  reasoning  ;  and  on  considera- 
tion I  admit  that,  as  we  have  launched  proposals  for  a 
peaceful  arrangement,  it  would  be  better  not  to  endanger 
the  negotiation  by  throwing  into  it  any  fresh  element  of 
difficulty.' 

Unfortunately  the  English  draft  Convention,  which  would 
probably  have  been  accepted  both  by  Russia  and  Turkey,  did 
not  in  the  end  find  favour  at  the  Tuileries.  If  a  peaceful 
settlement  of  the  dispute  could  not  be  avoided,  Louis  Napoleon 
wished  to  appear  as  the  principal  agent  in  effecting  it,  and 
proposed,  in  lieu  of  the  Convention,  that  the  Porte  should 
address  a  Note  to  the  Russian  Government  to  the  same  effect. 
With  this  French  draft  Note  as  a  basis,  the  diplomatists 
of  Europe  set  to  work  to  devise  terms  which  might  afford  to 
Russia  the  satisfaction  to  which  she  was  entitled,  and  thus 
remove  her  from  Roumania,  and  which  might  at  the  same 
time  be  safely  granted  by  Turkey.     The  result  of  these 

Q2 


228  LORD   ABERDEEN 

deliberations  was  the  famous  Vienna  Note  ;  which,  recom- 
mended by  the  Four  Powers,  and  accepted  as  satisfactory 
by  the  Czar,  was  rejected  by  the  Turks  as  containing — 
unless  modified  as  they  proposed — admissions  incompatible 
with  the  safety  of  the  Ottoman  Empire. 

The  negotiations  which  took  place  up  to  this  period  have 
been  fully  and  carefully  detailed  by  more  than  one  historian  ; 
but  after,  recounting  their  failure,  and  the  non-acceptance  of 
the  Note  by  the  Turks,  a  sense  of  weariness  and  lassitude 
appears  to  have  overcome  all  these  writers,  who  have  ap- 
parently paid  little  attention  to  the  discussions  which  sub- 
sequently took  place,  and  at  all  events  have  given  but  a 
meagre  and  too  often  an  inaccurate  account  of  them.  And 
"  yet  the  negotiations  which  took  place  in  the  six  months 
which  intervened  between  the  final  abandonment  of  the 
Vienna  Note  on  September  19,  1853,  and  the  declaration  of 
war  on  March  13,  1854,  were  of  the  highest  importance, 
and  more  than  once  afforded  the  fairest  promise  of  success. 
It  is  my  own  firm  belief  that,  but  for  the  catastrophe  of 
Sinope,  peace  between  England  and  Russia  would  have 
remained  unbroken.  Be  this  as  it  may,  some  knowledge  of 
these  negotiations  is  essential  to  a  proper  appreciation  of 
the  position  and  conduct  of  Lord  Aberdeen  during  this 
period,  and  though  the  limited  space  at  my  command 
renders  the  task  one  of  all  but  insuperable  difficulty,  I 
shall  attempt  to  give  a  hasty  sketch  of  their  course  and 
character. 

Mr.  Walpole,  in  his  eagerness  to  defend  Lord  John 
Russell,  has  suggested  an  entirely  novel  theory,  which  did 
not  at  the  time  occur  to  any  one  engaged  in  the  discussion. 
It  is  that,  after  proposing  to  Russia  that  she  should  accept 
the  Turkish  modifications,  it  became  impossible  to  urge  the 
Turks  to   accept  the  Vienna  Note  in  its  unmodified  form. 


THE   TURKISH    MODIFICATIONS  229 

This  would,  no  doubt,  have  been  the  case  had  the  accept- 
ance of  the  modifications  been  recommended  to  Russia  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  essential,  or  even  useful  ;  but  this  was 
not  so.  The  Four  Powers,  in  effect,  said  to  the  Porte  :  '  We 
consider  that  you  ought  to  sign  the  note  which  we  had  pre-1 
pared,  and  which  the  Emperor  Nicholas  has  already  accepted 
as  a  full  satisfaction  of  his  complaints  ;  but,  as  the  alteration^ 
you  have  made  appear  to  us,  though  unnecessary  and  without 
importance,  to  be  in  themselves  unobjectionable,  we  are 
ready  to  see  whether  he  will  accept  them,  and  so  terminate 
the  affair  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties.  Still  we  cannot 
press  such  a  demand  ;  and  should  he  refuse  (as  he  well  may) 
to  admit  any  alteration  in  a  Note  prepared  by  the  Powers 
of  Europe  in  concert,  which  he  has  already  accepted,  we 
must  adhere  to  our  advice,  already  given,  that  you  should 
sign  it  unaltered.'  This  was  the  course  on  which  Lord  I 
Aberdeen  had  determined,  before  the  transmission  of  the  I 
Turkish  modifications  to  the  Czar,  and  this  course  would  / 
unquestionably  have  been  adopted,  but  for  one  of  those 
singular  fatalities  which  so  often  occurred  in  the  course^ 
of  these  negotiations. 

The  Russian  refusal  had  been  anticipated,  and  in  no 
way  altered  the  policy  of  the  English  Cabinet.  It  was 
couched  in  moderate  language  and  courteous  terms,  and 
gave  as  the  reason  for  refusal  the  repugnance  of  the 
Emperor  to  permit  the  Turks  to  alter  the  terms  of  a 
document  which  had  been  prepared  by  the  Four  Powers 
in  the  interests  of  the  Porte,  and  already  accepted  by  the 
Emperor.  The  validity  of  this  reason  not  even  Lord 
Palmerston  was  inclined  to  deny.  In  conjunction  with  Lord 
Aberdeen  and  Lord  Clarendon,  he  considered  that  the 
modifications  must  be  abandoned  ;  and  he  concurred,  almost 
as  a  matter  of  course,  in  the  recommendation  to  the  Sultan 


J 


\ 


230  LORD   ABERDEEN 

to  accept  the  unmodified  Note,  which  gave  so  much  offence 
to  Lord  John  Russell.  Had  this  advice  reached  Constanti- 
nople, either  the  Porte  would  have  complied  with  it,  in 
which  case  the  incident  would  have  terminated  ;  or  by  its 
refusal  would  have  absolved  the  English  Government 
from  all  further  interference  in  its  behalf.  Unfortunately, 
the  indiscreet  or  culpable  action  of  a  subordinate  member 
of  the  Russian  Mission  at  Berlin  led  to  the  appearance  in  a 
German  newspaper  of  a  memorandum  which  had  been  for- 
warded to  Baron  Budberg,  the  Russian  Minister  there,  for  his 
confidential  information.  In  this  document  the  modifica- 
tions were  compared  with  the  original  draft,  and  their  effect 
pointed  out.  From  this  comparison  it  plainly  appeared 
that  the  Russian  Government  interpreted  the  Note  in  a 
different  sense  from  that  given  to  it  by  the  Four  Powers, 
and  had  rejected  the  modifications  because  they  in  distinct 
terms  excluded  that  right  of  interference  which  the  Russians 
considered  the  original  Note  to  confirm,  and  the  Turkish 
Government  held  it  to  confer,  but  which  it  had  not  been 
the  intention  of  the  Powers  to  recognise.  Neither  this 
paper,  nor  the  fact  which  it  revealed,  was  ever  officially 
communicated  to  the  English  Government ;  but  the  know- 
i  ledge  was,  of  course,  sufficient  to  make  it  impossible 
I  honestly  to  press  for  the  adoption  of  the  unmodified  Note 
f  by  the  Porte. 

But  vexatious  as  was  the  failure  of  an  arrangement 
which  had  been  so  nearly  effected,  and  which  would  have 
secured  the  maintenance  of  peace,  it  was  not  at  first  sup- 
posed by  the  ministers  of  any  of  the  Four  Courts,  or  at  St. 
Petersburg  itself,  that  the  mischief  done  was  irremediable. 
One  mode  of  settlement  had  failed  ;  another  had  to  be 
devised.  Nor,  in  truth,  was  there  any  essential  difficulty 
in  framing  such  a   document.     It  was   the  will  to  do  so 


LORD  STRATFORD'S   NOTE  23 1 

which  was  wanting.     The  Sultan  and  his  advisers  (and  it 
was  not  by  Turkish  counsellors  alone  that  he  was  guided) 
were  determined  that  the  contest  should  not  have  a  peace- 
ful issue.     The  opportunity  for  a  contest  with  Russia,  in 
which  Turkey  might  be  aided  by  the  armies  of  France  and 
England,  was  not  one  to  be  lost.     The  Porte  determined 
to  follow  up  the  rejection  of  the  Vienna  Note  by  a  declara- 
tion of  war,  should  a  pacific  settlement  not  be  obtained 
within  a  certain  limited  time.     This   at   once  rendered  a 
settlement  far  more  difficult,  though  even  yet  not  hopeless. 
Seized  in  a  right  spirit,  the  propositions  made  by  the  Em- 
peror Nicholas,  at  his  meeting  with  the  Emperor  of  Austria 
at  Olmiitz,  might  have  easily  been  made  the  foundation  of  a 
peaceful  solution  of  the  question  at  issue.     The  preference 
was,  however,  given  to  a  plan  proposed  by  Lord  Stratford 
de   Redcliffe,  that   a  fresh   Note,  which   he   had  himself 
prepared,  free  from   the   objections  to  which   the  original 
Note  was  liable,  and  yet  containing  all  that  the  Emperor 
of  Russia  had  declared  at  Olmiitz  to  be  needed  to  give 
him   satisfaction,   should  be   substituted  for  that  originally 
put  forward.     Whether   Lord  Stratford  really  felt   the  re- 
sponsibility of  his  position,  and  gave  this  counsel  with  an 
honest  view  to  its  acceptance,  or  only  as  a  means  of  render- 
ing abortive  any  other  scheme  founded  on  the  conferences 
at  Olmiitz,  and  with  the  knowledge  that  what  he  proposed 
would  be  refused  by  the  Porte,  can  never  be  known.     It 
was  felt  to  be  an  advantage  that  the  proposal  should  have 
emanated  from  him.     It  would,  it  was  thought,  be  difficult 
for  him  even  indirectly  to  suggest  the  rejection  of  a  Note 
known  to  be  his  own  work  ;  it  might  be  hoped  that,  as  his 
•  own,  he  might  feel   some  anxiety  in  assuring  its  success, 
and  that  his   self-esteem  might  be  gratified   by  effecting 
what  the  most  eminent  diplomatists  of  Europe  had  vainly 


232  LORD  aberdep:n 

attempted  to  accomplish.  The  wording  of  the  Note  ap- 
peared to  Lord  Aberdeen  to  be  such  as  ought  perfectly  to 
satisfy  both  Russia  and  Turkey  ;  but  he  equally  distrusted 
Lord  Stratford  and  the  Turkish  ministers  ;  and  to  ensure 
the  acceptance  by  the  Porte  of  the  new  Note  as  presented^ 
he  considered  it  essential  that  it  should  be  accompanied  by 
a  declaration  that,  if  it  were  not  adopted,  the  Four  Powers 
would  not '  permit  themselves,  in  consequence  of  unfounded 
objections,  or  by  the  declaration  of  war,  which  they  have 
already  condemned,  to  be  drawn  into  a  policy  inconsistent 
with  the  peace  of  Europe,  as  well  as  with  the  true  interests 
of  Turkey  itself.' 

To  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  was  absent  from  London,  Lord 
Aberdeen,  on  October  17  th,  wrote  thus  : 

I  believe  we  are  now  arrived  at  the  last  step  it  may  be 
possible  for  us  to  take.  Lord  Stratford  has  informed  us  that 
the  only  chance  left  for  arresting  the  progress  of  war  is  by  a 
fresh  Note  to  be  presented  to  the  Turks  with  a  perfect  union  of 
the  Four  Powers,  and  a  determined  interference  on  their  part. 
A  Note  has  consequently  been  prepared,  in  which  all  the  Turkish 
objections  to  the  Vienna  Note  have  been  obviated,  and  drawn 
up  in  such  terms  as  may  reasonably  be  accepted  by  both 
parties.  It  is  proposed  to  accompany  this  Note  with  a 
declaration  by  each  of  the  Four  Powers,  stating  their  desire  to 
[recognise  and  give  effect  to  the  principle  which  dictated  the 
{Treaty  of  1841  by  the  preservation  of  the  Turkish  Empire. 
The  declaration  then  proceeds  to  describe  more  particularly 
the  objects  of  the  Powers,  and  how  they  are  provided  for  by 
the  Note,  which  is  recommended  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Porte. 

This  is  how  the  matter  stands  ;  but,  reasonable  as  it  is,  I 
fear  the  proposition  will  not  have  the  least  chance  of  success. 
_The  Turks,  with  all  their  barbarism,  are  cunning  enough,  and 
see  clearly  the  advantages  of  their  situation.  Step  by  step 
they  have  drawn  us  into  a  position  in  which  we  are  more  or 
less  committed  to  their  support.  It  would  be  absurd  to 
suppose  that,  with  the  hope  of  active  assistance  from  England 
and  France,  they  should  not  be  desirous  of  engaging  in  a 
contest  with  their  formidable  neighbour.  They  never  had 
such  a  favourable  opportunity  before,  and  may  never  have 
again.     They  will  therefore  contrive  to  elude  our  proposals  and 


PROPOSED   DECLARATION  233 

keep  us  in  our  present  state,  from  which  it  will  be  difficult  to 
escape. 

I  have  thought  it  necessary  to  propose  such  an  addition  to 
the  declaration  of  the  Four  Powers  as  is  contained  in  the 
enclosed  paper.  It  seems  to  me  perfectly  reasonable  and  just, 
considering  our  relation  to  the  State  on  whose  behalf  we  are 
attempting  to  mediate,  and  as  affording  the  only  chance  of 
inducing  the  Turks  to  listen  to  pacific  advice.  Should  the 
Turks  yield  and  approve  of  our  Note,  we  must  be  prepared  for 
the  possible  refusal  of  the  Emperor.  In  this  case,  I  fear  it 
wouM  only  be  just  to  give  the  Turks  a  greater  degree  of  support 
than  we  should  otherwise  have  been  disposed  to  do. 

Prior  to  the  Turkish  declaration  of  war,  I  should  have  had 
no  fear  of  the  Emperor's  acceptance  ;  but  I  cannot  say  what 
effect  this,  and  the  indignity  inflicted  by  the  summons  of  Omer 
Pasha,  may  have  produced. 

There  may  be  some  difference  of  opinion  with  respect  to  my 
proposal.  Clarendon  at  first  entirely  agreed  with  me,  but  at 
present  seems  rather  doubtful.  Palmerston  certainly,  and 
Lord  John  probably,  will  be  against  it.  Newcastle  approves 
of  it,  and  Graham  thinks  it  indispensable.  My  own  opinion  is,  1 
that  it  can  only  be  objected  to  by  those  who  really  wish  to  make  I 
peace  impossible. 

It   soon  became  evident,  however,  that  persistence  in 

requiring  such  an  addition  would  break  up  the  Cabinet. 

Reasonable  as  it  was  (wrote  Lord  Aberdeen  to  Mr.  Glad- 
stone), I  have  not  thought  it  prudent  to  adhere  to  it.  I  found 
that  both  Palmerston  and  Lord  John  were  determined  to  resist 
it  to  the  utmost  extremity,  and  I  had  to  consider  how  far  I 
should  be  justified  in  creating  a  breach  on  such  grounds  ;  for 
the  practical  question  at  issue  would  have  been  whether  we 
should  impose  on  the  Turks  the  necessity  of  making  no  altera- 
tion whatever  in  a  Note  which  was  to  be  signed  by  them  and 
delivered  in  their  name.  To  those  who  did  not  know  all  that 
had  passed  such  a  condition  would  have  appeared  harsh  and 
unjust,  and  I  felt  that  it  could  not  properly  be  made  the  ground 
of  an  irreconcilable  difference  in  the  Cabinet. 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  I  cannot  but 

regret  that  Lord  Aberdeen  did  not,  nevertheless,  continue  to 

press  the  adoption  of  this  paragraph,  the  terms  of  which  are 

given  on  the  preceding  page.     It  afforded  almost  the  last 

chance  of  recovering^  for   England  her  freedom  of  action. 

Lord  Aberdeen  might  have  failed  (for   though   the  great 

majority  of  the  Cabinet   shared  Lord   Aberdeen's  views, 


234  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Lord  John's  withdrawal  would  have  broken  up  the 
Government),  but  his  action  would  have  relieved  him 
from  all  responsibility  for  subsequent  events.  His  retire- 
ment would,  indeed,  have  hastened  the  commencement  of 
the  war,  but  he  would  have  retired  in  circumstances,  and 
with  a  following,  which  might  soon  have  brought  him  back 
to  power  as  the  Minister  of  peace.  But  at  the  moment 
he  thought  that  he  might  attain  the  end  he  had  at  heart 
by  another  method. 

I  propose  (he  wrote)  that  we  should  exact  from  the  Turks 
a  suspension  of  active  hostilities  during  the  progress  of  the 
negotiation  in  which  we  are  engaged  on  their  account.  ...  In 
case  of  the  refusal  of  the  Turks,  it  .  .  .  will  give  us  the  liberty 
of  action  we  desire.  Clarendon  does  not  object  to  this  pro- 
posal, and  is  to  send  it  to-night  to  Palmerston  and  Lord  John, 
by  whom  I  fear  it  will  not  be  favourably  received.  Nevertheless, 
even  should  this  be  the  case,  I  am  disposed  to  insist  on  its 
adoption. 

No  objection  was,  however,  made  by  them,  and  the 
instruction,  with  one  slight  (but,  as  it  turned  out,  fatal) 
addition  made  by  Lord  John  Russell,  was  at  once  despatched 
"y  I  to  Lord  Stratford.  Everything  now  depended  upon  time. 
If  the  Turks  at  once,  and  before  any  active  hostilities  took 
place,  signed  the  newly  proposed  Note,  there  was  every 
reason  to  suppose  that  it  would  be  accepted  by  the  Emperor 
of  Russia.  It  became,  therefore,  the  business  of  those  who 
desired  war,  and  desired  also  to  retain  for  the  Porte  the 
support  of  France  and  England,  so  to  manage,  that  the  con- 
sideration of  the  new  Note  by  the  Porte  should  be  prolonged 
until  after  war  had  actually  commenced. 

The  paragraph  drafted  by  Lord  Aberdeen,  and  accepted 
by  the  Cabinet,  had  required  the  Porte  to  abstain  from 
hostilities  during  the  progress  of  the  negotiations  under- 
taken on  its  behalf.  In  the  despatch  actually  sent,  the 
words   'for   a  reasonable    time'  were    inserted    by   Lord 


COMMENCEMENT   OF    HOSTILITIES  235 

John  Russell,  and  of  this  full  advantage  was  taken.  This 
'  reasonable  time '  was  by  the  Porte,  with  Lord  Stratford's 
full  approval,  if  not  at  his  suggestion,  limited  to  one  fort- 
^nigh^j^-a  period  wholly  insufficient  for  negotiation  with 
Russia,  and  ensuring  the  commencement  of  hostilities  be- 
fore any  fresh  despatches  could  be  received  from  England. 
Meanwhile,  though  acceptance  of  the  English  proposal 
might  lead  to  peace,  rejection  of  it  was  unsafe,  as  it  might 
involve  withdrawal  of  English  support.  Lord  Stratford 
assured  Lord  Clarendon  that,  in  this  dilemma,  Reshid 
Pasha  was  personally  inclined  to  agree  to  the  adoption 
of  the  new  Note,  but  that  there  would  be  great  difficulty 
in  inducing  the  Council  to  do  so.  After  hostilities,  however, 
commenced,  there  was  no  longer  danger  that  what  might 
still  seem  an  act  of  deference  to  England  could  lead  to  any 
practical  result.  But  when  Lord  Stratford  at  length  reported 
the  tardy  acquiescence  of  the  Turks,  and  their  acceptance  of 
the  desired  form  of  Note,  he  must  have  well  known  that  it 
was  too  late,  and  that  the  only  answer  he  could  receive  would 
be  that  which  was  in  fact  returned,  that  it  was  useless 
now  to  ask  Russia  to  accept  a  Note  which  a  few  weeks 
previously  she  would  have  gladly  received.  Shots  had 
been  fired  in  anger  ;  blood  had  been  shed  ;  the  war  no 
longer  existed  on  paper  only,  but  had  become  a  stern  reality, 
and  only  a  treaty  of  peace  could  now  put  an  end  to  the 
differences  between  the  two  Powers.  Lord  Palmerston  had 
speedily  repented  of  his  acquiescence  in  the  instructions 
despatched  to  Lord  Stratford,  and  sent  a  message  to  Lord 
Aberdeen  to  that  effect.  Lord  Aberdeen  replied  on 
November  6  th  : 

I  understood  that  you  had  not  only  seen  and  approved  of 
the  instructions  in  question,  but  that  some  alterations  had  been 
adopted  at  your  suggestion.  From  the  very  commencement 
of  this  unfortunate  contest  it  has  always  been  my  desire  to 


236  LORD  ABERDEEN 

I  preserve  for  ourselves  an  entire  liberty  of  action  and  an 
unfettered  judgment  under  all  circumstances  that  might  arise. 
The  demands  of  Prince  Menschikofif  were  certainly  unreason- 
able, and  the  invasion  of  the  Principalities  was  most  unjustifi- 
able ;  but  as  w£jaad_na_treaty_Qbligaiimis  with  the  Porte,  wC^ 
were  peifectly  free  to  take  any  such  course  as  our  own  interests 
and  the  justice  of  the  case  should  seem  to  require.  It  is 
clearly  ascertained  that  the  Treaty  of  1841  imposed  no  other 
stipulation  on  the  contracting  parties  than  an  obligation  to 
observe  the  ancient  regulations  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  by 
which  the  Straits  of  the  Dardanelles  and  of  the  Bosphorus 
were  closed  against  foreign  ships  of  war  when  the  Porte  was 
at  peace. 

When  the  rupture  of  diplomatic  relations  took  place  on  the 
departure  of  Prince  Menschikofif,  the  great  object  we  proposed 
to  ourselves  was  to  preserve  peace,  by  advising  such  reasonable 
and  timely  concessions  on  the  part  of  Turkey  as  might  be 
made  without  any  real  sacrifice  of  the  dignity  or  independence 
of  the  Sultan.  This  has  been  our  policy  throughout  the  whole 
of  the  transactions  connected  with  this  dispute  ;  and  it  is  the 
policy  which,  as  it  seems  to  me,  we  ought  still  to  keep  steadily 
in  view. 

It  is  true  that,  during  these  negotiations,  we  have  found  it 
necessary  to  assume  a  more  hostile  attitude  towards  Russia,  by 

(advancing  our  fleet  to  Constantinople,  and  by  giving  assurance 
to  the  Porte  that  we  were  prepared  to  defend  the  capital,  or 
even  any  part  of  the  Turkish  territory,  from  an  attack  by  sea  ; 
thereby  greatly  extending  the  scope  of  the  proposition  made 
to  us  by  the  French  Government.  But  this  decision  did  not 
preclude  the  continuance  of  negotiation  ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
was  expressly  assented  to  by  me  on  the  clear  understanding 
that  such  was  to  be  the  case. 
»  Peace   is   still  our  object ;   and  we  have  surely  a  right  to 

1     expect  that  the   Turks   should  do  nothing   to   counteract  the 
I     endeavours  we  are  making   on   their  behalf.     Recent   intelli- 
1    gence  from    Constantinople   appeared   to   indicate   some  dis- 
I    position   to   listen   to   the   pacific   recommendations   of  Lord 
I    Stratford  ;  but  the  sincerity  of  this  disposition  is  doubtful,  for 
*     I    Omer   Pasha  crossed  the  Danube  long  after  he  might  have 
\  been    informed  of  the    decision   of   the    Sultan   to   suspend 
\  hostilities.     The  war  itself  was  proclaimed  in  opposition  to  the 
\  remonstrances   of  our  Ambassador ;    and   we   have   recently 
1  informed  the  Porte  that  a  cessation  of  hostilities  is  indispens- 
lable  for   the  continuance  of  our  negotiations.     If  the   Turks 
\should   reject  our  advice,  and  should  be  obstinately  bent  on 
War  when  we  are  labouring  for  peace,  I  confess  that  I  am  not 
pisposed  to  sacrifice  our  freedom  of  action,  and  to  permit  our- 
kelves  to  be  dragged  into  a  war  by  a  Government  which  has 


LETTER  TO   LORD   PALMERSTON  237 

lost  the  requisite  control  over  its  own  subjects,  and  is  obliged 
to    ^pt^y^yn^ep -\yjfi-^^re^si^^_j)i^Oftula£_^^  Such   a 

sacrifice  on  our  part  could  scarcely  be  expected,  even  if  we 
had  entered  into  treaty  engagements  with  a  powerful  and 
civilised  State;  but,  without  any  such  engagements  to  submit, 
against  our  better  judgment,  to  be  directed  by  a  Government 
like  that  of  Turkey  seems  altogether  preposterous.  Notwith- 
standing the  favourable  opinion  entertained  by  many,  I  have 
no  belief  whatever  in  the  improvement  of  the  Turks.  It  is 
true  that  under  the  pressure  of  the  moment  benevolent  decrees 
may  be  issued,  but  which,  except  under  the  eye  of  some 
Foreign  Minister,  are  entirely  neglected.  Their  whole  system 
is  radically  vicious  and  abominable.  I  do  not  refer  to  fables 
which  may  be  invented  at  St.  Petiersburg  or  Vienna,  but  to 
numerous  despatches  of  Lord  Stratford  himself  and^ofL^our 
own  consuls,  who  describe  a  frightful  picture  of  lawless -oppres- 
sion and  cruelty.  This  is  so  true  that,  if  war  should  continue, 
and  the  Turkish  armies  meet  with  disaster,  we  may  expect  to 
see  the  Christian  population  of  the  Empire  rise  against  their 
oppressors,  and  in  such  a  case  it  could  hardly  be  proposed 
to  employ  the  British  force  in  the  Levant  to  assist  in  com- 
pelling their  return  under  a  Mahommedan  yoke. 

It  is  not  to  be  doubted,  as  you  truly  observe,  that  a  cause 
espoused  by  England  and  France  ought  to  succeed  ;  but  the 
course  pursued  by  these  Powers  is  not  exactly  such  as  to 
ensure  this  result.  If  the  Turkish  cause  be  so  just,  and  our 
interest  in  its  success  so  great,  we  ought,  in  common  with  the 
Porte,  to  declare  war  against  Russia,  and  to  put  forth  the 
whole  power  and  energy  of  the  State  ;  but  practically  to  carry 
on  war  without  avowing  it  is  neither  doing  justice  to  our  ally 
nor  creditable  to  ourselves.  If  England  and  France  are  afraid 
to  declare  open  war,  they  place  themselves  in  a  position  in 
which  success  is  no  longer  certain. 

I  have  no  wish  to  abandon  Turkey  ;  on  the  contrary,  I  fully 
concur  in  the  policy  which  seeks  to  preserve  it ;  for,  whatever 
may  be  the  opinion  I  entertain  of  the  Government  and  the 
people,  I  believe  that  its  preservatipn  _  at  this  moment  is  a 
EuropearrTTecessTly:  T  wouia7Tiowever,  endeavour  rather  to 
preserve  it  by  peace  than  by  war  ;  for  I  am  satisfied  that  war, 
whatever  may  be  its  immediate  result,  is  full  of  danger  to  the 
existence  of  the  Turkish  Empire. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  I  should  be  perfectly  prepared  to  oppose, 
even  to  the  extremity  of  war,  the  possession  by  Russia  of 
Constantinople  and  the  Dardanelles,  with  the  approaches  to 
•  the  Mediterranean,  and  I  think  that  this  decision  would  be 
justified  by  English  and  by  European  interests.  It  is  true 
that  the  Emperor  of  Russia  has  invariably  declared  that  he 
entertains  no  such  projects,  and  that  he  would  reject  any  such 


-? 


238  LORD  ABERDEEN 

proposition  ;  but  if  a  contest  should  ever  arise  on  this  ground, 
it  would  probably  embrace  other  objects  than  the  security  of 
the  Turkish  dominion.  It  is  difficult  to  say  into  whose  hands 
these  territories  would  ultimately  fall  ;  but  whoever  might 
profit  by  the  result,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  Turkish 
barbarians  would  speedily  disappear,  never  more  to  return  to 
a  soil  upon  which,  in  the  face  ^  of  Christendom,  they  have  so 
long  encamped. 

Lord  Aberdeen's  view  of  the  state  of  the  negotiations 

at  this  time  is  thus  given  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Gladstone  of 

December  3rd  : 

I  think  it  is  impossible  that  we  should  meet  Parhament 
without  being  prepared  to  lay  before  it  a  full  account  of  our 
proceedings  in  the  East  during  the  recess.  There  may  be 
much  to  criticise,  but  on  the  whole  I  am  disposed  to  think 
that  the  appearance  will  not  be  unfavourable.  I  agree  with 
you,  however,  in  the  opinion  that  we  ought  previously  to  review 
our  own  position,  and  clearly  to  understand  the  principles  on 
which  we  mean  to  act. 

To  look  at  the  subject  from  the  commencement :  Russia, 
having  put  forward  a  just  ground  of  complaint,  subsequently 
extended  this  beyond  the  bounds  of  moderation,  and  en- 
deavoured to  enforce  compliance  by  a  threatened  occupation 
of  the  Principalities.  We  first  appeared  in  the  East  in  defence 
of  Constantinople,  supposed  to  be  in  imminent  danger  of 
attack,  although,  I  believe,  without  the  least  foundation.  This 
defence  we  have  subsequently  extended  to  the  Turkish 
territory  against  any  direct  aggression  by  sea.  We  have 
assumed  this  defensive  character  from  the  first,  and  still 
maintain  it.  If  it  shall  be  thought  right  to  persevere  in  this 
course,  I  am  at  all  events  of  opinion  that  it  will  not  be  wise  at 
present  to  embark  in  more  active  hostilities.  Our  professed 
object  from  the  beginning  was  to  secure  peace  and  to  prevent 
the  necessity  of  having  recourse  to  actual  war.  The  Emperor 
of  Russia  had  most  unjustifiably  invaded  the  Principalities, 
but  he  had  not  declared  war,  and  did  not  require  an  inch  of 
territory.  For  some  months  the  Turks  determined  not  to 
resent  this  invasion  by  a  declaration  of  war  ;  and  as  the 
Emperor  only  required  certain  official  assurances  from  the 
Porte  connected  with  the  privileges  of  the  Greek  Church,  we 
employed  ourselves  in  suggesting  such  forms  as  the  Porte 
might  adopt  with  safety  and  the  Emperor  receive  with  honour. 
In  this  we  have  hitherto  failed ;  although,  if  the  two  par- 
ties were  acting  in  good  faith,  it  ought  not  to  be  difficult 
to  succeed.  We  even  promised  to  secure  for  the  Turks  by 
'  Originally  written  ^  to  the  disgrace.^ 


Letter  to  Mr.  Gladstone 


239 


nfegotiation  the  evacuation  of  the  Principalities,  provided  they 
abstained  from  a  formal  declaration  of  war  ;  but  they  refused 
to  follow  our  advice.  They  thought  that  our  ambassadors,  with 
the  English  and  French  fleets,  were  at  their  service,  and  that 
we  had  no  option  but  to  take  part  in  the  war. 

I  do  not  discuss  the  Vienna  Note  with  its  subsequent 
modifications,  and  especially  the  declaration  at  Olmiitz,  which, 
if  received  in  a  fair  spirit,  might  perhaps  have  led  to  peace  ; 
but  it  appears  by  the  accounts  from  Constantinople  that  our 
last  Note,  drawn  up  under  Turkish  advice,  and  with  the  view 
of  meeting  every  Turkish  object,  has  also  been  rejected. 
Reschid  Pasha  has  officially  informed  Lord  Stratford  that  if  it 
had  arrived  two  months  sooner  it  would  have  been  accepted. 
Now,  although  it  may  be  true  that  the  last  two  months  have 
made  a  change  in  the  position  of  the  Turks,  I  do  not  see  why 
this  change  should  affect  us.  We  never  professed  to  make 
common  cause  with  them  in  a  war  declared  against  our  advice, 
but  merely  to  protect  them  from  immediate  attack.  Our 
object  was  to  obtain  peace  by  a  restoration  of  the  status  quo, 
and  in  consideration  of  a  declaration  to  be  addressed  to  the 
Emperor  of  Russia  by  the  Porte. 

It  will  be  important  to  keep  this  in  view,  for  we  shall 
probably  have  new  demands  made  upon  us  of  a  very  different 
description.  Our  last  attempt  at  Constantinople  has  been  to 
make  the  Turks  declare  on  what  terms  they  would  be  willing 
to  treat  for  peace.  I  expect  something  unreasonable  ;  perhaps 
not  the  restoration  of  the  Crimea  or  Bessarabia,  but  certainly 
not  the  renewal  of  treaties  and  the  status  quo.  Whatever 
these  terms  may  be,  can  it  be  maintained  that  we  ought  to 
support  them  in  opposition  to  the  basis  laid  down  by  ourselves, 
and  through  all  the  chances  of  a  war  declared  against  our 
advice,  and  the  declaration  of  which  has  rendered  abortive  our 
pacific  endeavours  on  behalf  of  the  Porte  itself  ? 

The  Turks,  although  barbarous  in  some  respects,  are,  like  (^ 
all   Orientals,  cunning  enough,  and   know  how   to   press   an  y  t^ 
advantage.     They  will  do  their  best  to  profit  by  the  assistance  ( 
of  England  and  France,  and,  if  possible,  to  force  us  into  the 
adoption  of  the  most  decided  hostilities. 

1  expect  at  the  next  Cabinet  to  hear  some  proposal  made 
for  taking  a  more  active  part  in  warlike  measures,  although 
without  any  declaration  of  war  against  Russia.  No  doubt  it 
would  be  more  convenient  to  avoid  this  if  possible,  and  by 
various  modes  of  insult  and  attack  to  force  Russia  to  declare 
war.  I  think  we  have  gone  far  enough  in  this  direction  ; 
although  the  situation  of  affairs  has  become  more  critical  since 
Lord  Stratford  determined  to  send  ships  of  war  into  the  Black 
Sea  for  objects  not  contemplated  in  his  instructions.  The 
effect  it  would  produce  was  perfectly  well  known. 


* 


f 


240  LORD   ABERDEEN 

We  have  now  happily  established  a  more  decided  union  and 
concert  of  the  Four  Powers,  which  will  enable  us  to  hold  a  firm 
language  to  Russia,  and  perhaps  induce  the  Turks  to  listen  to 

(reason,  so  that  peace  may  still  not  be  impossible. 
But,  after  all,  it  is  the  exclusion  of  Russia,  rather  than  the 
preservation  of  the  Turks,  that  we  ought  to  have  in  view. 
And  it  is  well  not  to  lose  sight  of  this  ;  for  if  the  war  should 
continue  we  shall  infallibly  see  a  rising  of  the  Christian  popula- 
tion, of  which  indeed  there  is  already  some  appearance.  In 
that  event,  do  you  think  there  are  many  who  would  urge  us  to 
fight  on  the  side  of  our  Turkish  friends  ? 

Lord  Palmerston,  some  weeks  later,  suggested  that,  in  the 
interest  of  peace,  pressure  should  be  put  on  the  Emperor  of 
Russia,  by  so  far  assisting  the  Turks  as  to  prevent  Russian 
ships  from  leaving  Sebastopol.     Lord  Aberdeen  replied  : 

I  take  for  granted  that  we  both  desire  to  see  the  termina- 
tion of  the  existing  war  between  Russia  and  the  Porte,  but  I 
confess  I  am  not  at  present  prepared  to  adopt  the  mode  which 
you  think  most  likely  to  restore  peace. 

You  think  that  the  Emperor  ought  to  be  made  to  evacuate 
the  Principalities,  to  abandon  his  demands,  and  to  consent  to 
the  revision  of  the  treaties  between  Russia  and  Turkey. 

The  first  condition  will  probably  offer  no  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  peace,  as  the  Emperor  has  repeatedly  declared  that  he 
does  not  desire  or  intend  to  retain  an  inch  of  Turkish  territory. 

I  agree  with  you  that  the  Emperor  ought  to  be  made  to 
abandon  all  unjust  demands.  He  has  already  abandoned  much, 
and  will  probably  abandon  more.  But,  after  the  former  breach 
of  engagement  by  the  Turks,  he  has  some  right  to  expect  a 
reasonable  assurance  by  a  diplomatic  act,  against  the  recurrence 
of  this  violation  of  good  faith,  as  well  as  that  the  Greek 
Christians  should  be  duly  protected.  This  claim  has  been  put 
forward  from  the  commencement  of  the  negotiations,  and  to 
this  we  have  repeatedly  advised  the  Turks  to  accede,  without 
prejudice  to  the  sovereign  rights  of  the  Sultan. 

With  regard  to  the  third  condition,  it  is  vain  to  expect  that 
Russia  will  ever  agree  to  the  revision  of  her  former  treaties 
with  the  Porte,  unless  reduced  to  the  last  extremity  ;  and  if 
Omer  Pasha,  instead  of  having  only  crossed  the  Danube,  had 
advanced  to  Moscow,  such  a  proposition  would  scarcely  have 

Ibeen  entertained. 
Neither  do  I  see  that  Europe  has  any  great  interest  in  pro- 
curing such  a  revision.     Peace  has  been  maintained  between 
Russia  and  the  Porte  for  the  last  five  and  twenty  years,  since  the 
Treaty  of  Adrianople,  and  if  renewed  it  may  continue  as  long. 
The  interpretation  of  treaties,  which  impose  a  moral  obliga- 


LETTER   TO   LORD   PALMERSTON  24 1 

tion  upon  one  of  the  parties,  will  always  be  open  to  doubt  and 
cavil ;  but  the  substitution  of  the  Great  Powers  instead  of  Russia, 
as  you  propose,  would  probably  render  the  execution  of  such 
stipulations  still  more  complicated  and  uncertain. 

You  admit  that,  in  order  to  bring  the  Emperor  to  agree  to 
these  terms  of  peace,  '  it  is  necessary  to  exert  a  considerable 
pressure  upon  him.'  Now  what  you  call  a  considerable  pres- 
sure, I  can  only  regard  as  war.  And  it  is  a  sort  of  war  which 
I  do  not  think  very  creditable  to  tfTe  honour  and  charactenotthisu 
(!t)untfy; — rfTIie""c6nduct  of  Russia  has  been  so  injurious  to  the 
Porte,  and  our  own  interests  are  so  deeply  affected,  as  to  make  us 
think  it  necessary  to  resist  her  attack,  it  is  not  by  capturing  a 
few  ships  or  blockading  some  port  that  we  shall  best  prove  our 
sympathy  ;  but  we  ought  rather  at  once  to  declare  war  and  to 
make  common  cause  with  our  ally.  We  have  no  treaty  engage- 
ments with  the  Porte  ;  and,  although  I  do  not  pretend  to  say 
to  what  extremities  we  may  be  driven  by  the  course  of  events,  I 
do  not  believe  that  the  people  of  this  country  are  prepared  to 
make  such  a  sacrifice,  or  that  our  national  honour  and  interests 
are  so  much  concerned,  as  would  make  it  justifiable  in  us  to  incur 
all  the  risks  and  horrors  of  war. 

Much  as  I  desire  to  avoid  war,  and  reluctant  as  I  am  to 
prolong  that  which  already  exists  between  Russia  and  the  Porte 
by  aiming  at  unattainable  conditions  of  peace,  I  would  not  have 
you  imagine  that  under  no  circumstances  should  I  be  prepared 
to  have  recourse  to  such  an  alternative.  I  think  that  Russia 
could  never  be  permitted  to  occupy  Constantinople  and  the 
Straits  of  the  Dardanelles  ;  and  if  it  became  evident  that  any 
such  intention  was  entertained,  I  believe  that  the  interests  of 
this  country  and  Europe  would  justify  us  in  resorting  at  once  to 
the  most  active  hostihties. 

Allow  me  to  recall  your  attention  to  our  actual  position  with 
respect  to  the  pending  negotiations  for  peace.  We  have  just 
effected  the  union  of  the  Four  Powiers,  and  their  cordial  con- 
currence in  the  steps  about  to  be  taken  for  arriving  at  this  great 
end.  I  regard  this  union  as  a  most  important  fact,  and  as  cal- 
culated essentially  to  affect  our  proceedings,  whether  they  termi- 
nate in  war  or  peace.  We  ought  not  rashly  to  endanger  the 
permanence  of  this  European  concert ;  and  as  the  Powers  have 
declared  that  the  integrity  of  the  Turkish  territory  is  an  object 
of  general  interest,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  they  will  take  such 
means  as  may  be  necessary  to  secure  it.  But  if,  while  we  have 
sent  pacific  overtures  to  Constantinople,  and  are  endeavouring 
as  mediators  to  establish  an  armistice  between  the  belligerents, 
we  should  ourselves  have  recourse  to  acts  of  direct  hostility,  we 
can  scarcely  expect  that  our  allies  would  approve  of  such  a 
decision.  I  greatly  doubt  whether  even  the  French  Government 
would  think  it  just  or  honourable  to  join  us  in  such  a  course. 


\J 


242  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Even  now,  the  terms  of  a  treaty  of  peace  between  the 
Porte  and  Russia  might  not  improbably  have  been  satis- 
J  factorily  arranged  ;  but  On  December  12,  1853,  England  was 
s^rtled  by  the  first  rumours  of  the  battle  of  Sinope.  They 
were  not  generally  credited  ;  but  on  the  14th  fuller  details, 
amply  confirmed,  appeared  in  all  the  newspapers.  Looked 
at  in  the  light  of  after  years,  there  was  nothing  in  the  battle 
of  Sinope  to  justify  the  outcry  of  horror  which  it  called 
fnrfh  Russia  and  Turkey  were  at  war — a  war  declared  not 
by  Russia  but  by  Turkey.  When  nations  are  at  war,  an 
attack  on  the  fleet  of  one  belligerent  by  the  fleet  of  the  other 
is  not  only  justifiable  but  to  be  expected,  nor  does  the 
number  of  ships  sunk  or  captured,  the  completeness  of  the 
victory,  or  the  fact  that  the  enemy's  fleet  was  at  anchor  in 
one  of  its  own  ports,  affect  the  legitimate  character  of  the 
action.<;^ess  than  thirty  years  before,  an  English  fleet,  in 
conjunctioh  with  those  of  France  and  Russia,  had  destroyed 
the  Turkish  navy  in  a  Turkish  harbour,  and  that  at  a  time 
when  both  England  and  France  were  at  peace  with  TurkeyN 
But  that  '  untoward  event '  had  been  as  much  lauded  arra 
Irejoiced  over  in  England  as  the  untoward  event  of  Sinope 
[was  denounced  and  shuddered  at.  The  English  public  did 
inot  trouble  itself  to  inquire  into  the  legal  or  technical 
character  of  the  transaction.  It  had  taken  the  Turks  into 
its  friendship,  and  now  saw  its  friends  worsted.  It  dubbed 
the  battle  a  massacre,  and  called  for  vengeance.  ^  Up  to  the 
beginning  of  October  the  feeling  of  the  public  had  been 

»  It  is  not  uninteresting,  as  an  evidence  of  changed  public  opinion, 
to  compare  a  cartoon  published  in  '  Punch  '  at  this  time,  with  one 
which  appeared  in  the  summer  of  1877.  In  the  former,  Lord  Aberdeen 
exclaims,  ♦  I'm  afraid  I  must  let  him  go,'  as  he  holds  back  by  the 
mane  the  British  lion,  which,  in  a  rampant  attitude,  is  struggling  to 
free  himself  for  a  dash  forward  upon  the  Russian  bear.  In  the  latter, 
a  number  of  journalists  are  depicted  vainly  striving  to  rouse,  with  the 
points  of  their  pens,  the  same  lion  from  his  majestic  repose. 


BATTLE   OF   SINOPE  243 

decidedly  pacific.  During  the  two  months  which  followed 
it  underwent  a  considerable  change,  and  now  burst  into  a 
flame  of  furious  passio^n.  The  Tifties^  which,  in  close  concert 
with  Lord  Aberdeen,  had  until  this  time  done  its  best  to 
allay  popular  excitement,  now  went  over  to  the  other  camp, 
and  clamoured  for  '  decided  measures '  as  loudly  as  any  other 
jpurnal. 

The  Turkish  ships  were  sunk,  burnt,  or  captured  ;  but 
they  had  effected  the  purpose  for  which  they  had  been  sent 
into  the  Black  Sea.  At  the  price  of  a  huge  loss  of  Turkish 
lives  the  Sultan  had  practically  secured  the  support  of  Eng- 
land in  his  contest  with  Russia.  The  Porte  could  now, 
without  exciting  any  apprehension  among  those  eager  for  war, 
afford  to  express  its  willingness  to  make  peace  on  the  most 
reasonable  terms,  and  it  accordingly  assented  to  the  trans- 
mission to  St.  Petersburg  of  propositions  which,  if  made  a 
month  earlier,  would  have  closed  the  discussion. 

Unhappily,  Sinope  made  a  great  change  in  the  attitude 
of  the  French  Government,  and  before  the  Turkish  accept- 
ance of  the  proposed  convention  was  known  in  England 
a  resolution  had  been  taken  at  its  instance — it  may  almost 
be  said  at  its  dictation — which,  by  offering  a  grievous  affront 
to  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  went  far  to  render  the  preservation 
of  peace  impossible.  The  Emperor  Louis  Napoleon  called 
on  England  to  send  her  fleets  into  the  Black  Sea,  and  an- 
nounced that,  if  she  did  not,  he  would  either  send  the  French 
fleet  there  alone,  or  recall  it  to  Toulon.  The  entrance  of  the 
fleet  into  the  Black  Sea  had  already  been  conditionally  sanc- 
tioned, in  the  event  of  its  being  necessary  for  the  protection 
of  Turkish  territory,  or  if  the  Russians  crossed  the  Danube. 
Telegraphic  intelligence  was  at  this  juncture  received  in 
London  stating  that  the  entry  of  the  fleets  had  already  been 
effected.    This  was  false,  but  it  produced  the  desired  effect. 

R  2 


244  LORD   ABERDEEN 

Pressed  as  the  measure  was  by  France,  its  approval,  if  already 
practically  adopted,  could  not  be  avoided,  and  Lord  Aberdeen 
consented  to  it,  on  the  condition  that  all  hostilities,Vhether 
on  the  part  of  Turk  or  Russian,  were  equally  prohibited.  This 
he  thought  would  obviate  the  otherwise  inevitable  danger  of 
a  collision  between  the  Turkish  and  Russian  fleets,  in  the 
presence  of  English  ships,  which  would  certainly  take  the  part 
\  of  the  Turks,  and  thus  commence  hostilities  with  Russia. 

Meanwhile  the  negotiation  had  proceeded,  and  with  better 
hopes  of  success.  A  form  of  treaty  was  prepared  which  the 
Turks  agreed  to,  which  all  the  Four  Powers  were  prepared 
to  recommend  to  Russia,  and  which  there  was  every  reason 
to  think  that  Russia  would  substantially  accept.  But  on 
January  4,  1854,  the  French  and  English  fleets  entered  the 
Black  Sea.  Russia  was  not  now  prepared  to  close  with 
terms  which  till  then  she  would  have  accepted  readily. 
But  her  course  was  still  temperate,  and  she  called  for  ex- 
planations as  to  the  entry  of  the  Black  Sea  in  a  tone  which 
showed  that  she  did  not  desire  a  rupture,  and  that  if  similar 
restrictions  were  imposed  on  both  belligerents,  the  Czar 
was  not  indisposed  to  pass  over  the  affront  without  actively 
resenting  it. 

Even  yet  the  cause  of  peace  was  not  wholly  desperate. 
The  Four  Powers  were  again  entirely  united  as  to  the  terms 
to  be  proposed  to  Russia,  and  which  in  their  opinion  Russia 
could  and  should  honourably  accept.  Turkey  (however 
tardily)  had  subscribed  to  these  terms,  and  they  appeared  to 
comply  essentially  with  the  declarations  made  by  the  Emperor 
of  Russia  at  Olmiitz.  If  these  terms  were  accepted  peace 
was  saved. 

So  late  as  January  12,  1&54,  Lord  Aberdeen  wrote  : 

Most  welcome  intelligence  has  arrived  from  Vienna  by  tele- 
graph, from  which  it  appears  that  the  Turkish  Government  had 


FINAL   NEGOTIATIONS  245 

agreed  to  the  propositions  of  the  representatives  at  Constan- 
tinople. The  conference  at  Vienna  were  unanimously  of  opinion 
that  the  answer  was  sufficiently  favourable  to  authorise  Count 
Buol  to  send  it  off  at  once  to  St.  Petersburg  for  the  acceptance 
of  the  Emperor.  The  objections  of  the  Emperor  will  apply 
more  to  the  proposed  form  of  proceeding  than  to  the  substance 
of  the  proposal  itself.  He  will  probably  resist  the  notion  of 
being  summoned  like  a  criminal  before  what  he  calls  La  Police 
Correctionnelle  of  Europe.  Should  a  real  desire  exist  on  both 
sides  to  arrive  at  peace,  these  difficulties  of  form  may  be  over- 
come. 

But  no  such  desire  existed  on  the  part  of  the  Porte,  the 
French  Emperor,  the  English  people,  or,  I  fear  it  must  be 
added,  the  English  Cabinet.  Well  might  Lord  Aberdeen, 
speaking  of  his  colleagues,  exclaim  in  the  words  of  David  : 
'  I  labour  for  peace,  but  when  I  speak  unto  them  thereof, 
they  make  them  ready  for  battle.' 

The  answer  returned  by  France  and  England  to  the 
Russian  demand  for  explanations  as  to  the  entrance  of  their 
fleets  into  the  Black  Sea  was  couched  in  terms  which  were 
not  conciliatory,  and  which  showed  that,  though  the  Turks 
would  be  restrained  from  active  hostilities,  it  was  intended 
to  impose  greater  restrictions  on  the  action  of  Russia  than 
on  that  of  Turkey.  The  Russian  ministers  were  accordingly 
withdrawn  from  Paris  and  London. 

It  was  not,  however,  improbable,  nay,  it  seemed_everL 
likely,  that  Russia  would  yield. to  the._united-pr€ss«re-trf- 
Europe,  especially  when  in  so  doing  she  would  give  up 
nothing  she  possessed,  nor  do  anything  inconsistent  with  her 
previous  declarations.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Emperor 
seriously  hesitated  whether  he  should  not  do  so,  and  we  learn 
from  the  Russian  '  Diplomatic  Study,'  that  the  non-accept- 
ance of  the  Vienna  proposals,  as  they  stood,  was  subsequently 
deeply  regretted  at  St.  Petersburg.  Finally,  the  Emperor 
Nicholas  took  what  seemed  to  him  a  middle  course.  He 
accepted,  or  professed   to   accept,  the   substance   of  five 


246  LORD   ABERDEEN 

of  the  seven  Vienna  proposals,  but  with  certain  reserves. 
He  required  that  the  negotiations  for  peace  should  be 
carried  on  directly  between  Russia  and  Turkey,  either  at 
St.  Petersburg  or  at  the  headquarters  of  the  Russian  Army, 
and  that  the  evacuation  of  the  Principalities  should  only 
take  place  on  the  conclusion  of  peace. 

Lord  Aberdeen,  though  he  had  entertained  hopes  that 
Russia  would  have  accepted  without  change  the  terms  pro- 
posed at  Vienna,  had  contemplated  the  probability  of  some 
such  modifications  being  proposed.  He  did  not  think  their 
discussion  unreasonable,  and  would  have  been  prepared  to 
negotiate  upon  them  had  that  course  been  advocated  by  the 
Austrian  Cabinet,  as  he  firmly  anticipated  it  would  be.  The 
state  of  public  opinion  in  England,  and  the  views  of  nearly 
the  whole  Cabinet,  made  it  impossible  to  hope  that  anything 
short  of  the  unqualified  acceptance  by  Russia  of  the  Vienna 
proposals  could  now  avert  war  ;  but  it  would  have  been  easy 
for  Lord  Aberdeen  to  have  relieved  himself  of  responsibility 
by  insisting  on  acquiescence  in  the  proposal  of  Austria  for 
further  negotiation,  and  retiring  from  office  if  his  views  were 
overruled.  What,  then,  was  his  surprise  to  find  that  Austria 
not  only  at  once  rejected  the  Russian  reserves  as  inad- 
missible, but  herself  proposed  that  their  rejection  should 
be  followed  up  by  a  summons  to  Russia  to  evacuate  the 
Principalities  forthwith — a  measure  which  was  practically  a 
conditional  declaration  of  war. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  when  this  proposal  was 
made,  the  Austrian  Cabinet  intended  to  take  part  in  the 
war  which  must  be  the  inevitable  result  of  its  adoption  ; 
and  it  is  equally  certain  that,  when  the  '  summons '  was 
despatched  from  England,  Lord  Aberdeen  and  Lord  Claren- 
don were  under  that  impression.  Either  Lord  Westmorland 
failed  to  detect,  or  he  failed  to  report,  any  change  in  the 


AUSTRIA  AND   PRUSSIA  247 

intentions  of  the  Austrian  Government  ;  and  it  was  with 
surprise  and  disappointment  that,  when  the  summons  was 
actually  gone ^  the  EngHsh  Cabinet  learnt  that  it  was  only 
diplomatic  support  which  it  would  receive  from  Vienna. 
What  was  the  cause  of  this  retreat  has  never  been  fully 
known.  At  the  time,  those  who,  like  Lord  Palmerston, 
and  some  other  members  of  the  Cabinet,  were  prejudiced 
by  rooted  suspicion  and  dislike  of  Austria,  saw  in  it  clear 
proof  of  an  understanding  between  the  two  Emperors. 
Time,  and  the  disclosure  of  documents,  have  shown  this 
notion  to  be  wholly  unfounded.  It  is  more  probable  that  ' 
the  King  of  Prussia,  who  was  bound  by  treaty  with  Austria 
to  succour  the  latter  Power  with  his  whole  force  in  the 
event  of  her  being  attacked  by  Russia,  intimated  to  the 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph  that  he  had  entered  into  a  similar 
obligation  towards  Russia  should  Austria  be  the  assailant. 
To  make  war  with  Russia  with  the  support  of  all  Europe 
was  one  matter  ;  to  do  so  under  such  conditions  as  those 
now  suggested  was  quite  another.  To  resist  at  once  an 
invasion  of  Hungary  by  Russia,  and  of  Bohemia  by  Prussia, 
as  well  as  the  invasion  (in  such  an  event  but  too  probable) 
of  Lombardy  by  Sardinia,  was  more  than  the  Cabinet  of 
Vienna  could  prudently  undertake,  and  her  active  support 
was,  for  the  time  at  least,  reduced  to  a  benevolent  neutrality. 
The  '  summons  '  remained  unanswered,  and  France  and  Eng- 
land alone  declared  war  against  Russia  on  March  28,  1854.  --^^ 

Lord  Aberdeen,  Sir  James  Graham,  Mr.  Gladstone — 
the  most  pacific  members  of  the  Cabinet— all  assented  to 
the  issue  of  this  declaration,  and  assisted  in  its  preparation. 
It  is  well  that  we  should  pause  to  inquire  how  such  a 
result  became  possible. 

Lord  Aberdeen  was  of  opinion  that  the  possession,  or  ^ 
even  occupation,  of  Constantinople  by  Russia  would  be 


24^  LORD  ABERDEEN 


a  menace   to   Europe,  and  would  seriously  affect   British 
interests.     He  held  from  the  first  that  any  advance  on  the 
part  of  Russia,  rendering  the  danger  of  such  occupation 
imminent,   should  be  resisted,  and   that,  if  necessary,   by 
force.      He   did   not   suppose   the   Emperor    Nicholas   to 
'  entertain  any  such  design  ;  but  he  thought  it  not  impro- 
bable that  he  might  seek  to  acquire  rights  of  interference  in 
Turkey,  and  of  influence  over  its  Christian  subjects,  which 
j  ijthe  Porte  could  not  safely  grant,  and  the  refusal  of  which 
'^1  might  easily  lead  to  events  which  would  place  Constantinople 
i  in  danger.    Such  claims,  however,  he  believed,  would  not  be 
^V*    N  persisted  in  by  Russia,  if  decidedly  disapproved  by  the  four 
AJ  other   Great  Powers  of  Europe.      Menace  on  the  part  of 
1  England  alone,   or  even  on  that  of  England  and  France 
\  combined,  was  not,  he  thought,  likely  to  intimidate,  whilst 
\it  was  certain  to  irritate,  the  Czar,  and  equally  certain  to 
increase  the  reluctance  of  Austria  and  Prussia  to  co-operate 
m  the  exercise  of  that  combined  pressure  which  Lord  Aber- 
j  deen   regarded   as   irresistible.      It   therefore   appeared   to 
I  him  essential  that  any  expression  of  doubt  as  to  the  pacific 
intentions  of  the  Russian  Court  (whether  they  were  really 
trusted  or  not)  should  be  carefully  avoided  ;  that  a  rigid 
control  should  be  maintained  over  the  action  of  Turkey, 
certain,  if  left  to  itself,  to  precipitate  a  contest ;  and  that 
the    Four    Powers   should    adopt  resolute    and    identical 
language   at    St.    Petersburg,    in   which   the  intimation    of 
a   desire   to   see  the  just  complaints  of  Russia  redressed 
should   be   combined   with   a   clear   indication   of    united 
resistance  to  the  acquisition  by  Russia  of  new  and  objec- 
tionable powers   within   the  Turkish  Empire.     The  great 
majority  of  the  Cabinet  (indeed,  at  first,  the  whole  of  it) 
agreed  with  Lord  Aberdeen  as  to  the  soundness  of  this 
policy,  and  could  it  have  been  steadily  pursued,  the  Russian 


SHADES  OF   OPINION  249 

demands  would  probably  have  been  reduced  to  perfectly 
safe  dimensions  without  recourse  to  the  extremity  of  war.  ^ 

This  policy  was  never  lost  sight  of  by  Lord  Aberdeen 
and  his  friends,  but  whilst  all  the  Cabinet  were  agreed  that 
a  Russian  attack  on  Constantinople  would  compel  Great 
Britain,  even  if  she  stood  alone,  to  take  up  arms  against  her, 
and  that  it  w^as  expedient  meanwhile  to  act  in  concert  not 
only  with  France  but  with  the  powders  of  Central  Europe,  a 
divergence  of  opinion  soon  arose  as  to  what  was  to  be  con- 
sidered an  attack  on  Constantinople,  and  what  degree  of 
importance  was  to  be  attached  to  European  concert. 

From  the  outset,  the  varying  impulses,  personal  objects, 
and  uncertain  faith  of  the  French  Emperor  made  such  con- 
cert difficult;  but  in  the  beginning  there  was  no  divergence  of 
opinion  in  the  English  Cabinet.  The  decision  that  the  fleet 
should  not  leave  Malta  was  a  unanimous  one,  and  though 
Lord  Palmerston,  a  little  later,  recommended  its  advance 
to  the  Dardanelles,  he  withdrew  that  recommendation  and, 
as  has  been  shown  on  page  227,  assented  to  Lord  Aberdeen's 
policy  of  quiescence,  in  which  Lord  John  Russell  also 
agreed.  But  they  both  gravely  underrated  the  importance 
of  close  union  and  concert  on  the  part  of  the  Four  Powers, 
and,  from  various  causes,  subsequently  became  impatient,  as 
did  some  other  members  of  the  Cabinet,  for  more  active 

'  That  Russia  was  justly  entitled  to  require  that  the  privileges 
previously  granted  to  the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Porte,  and  guaranteed 
by  Treaties,  should  be  rehearsed  and  renewed,  and  that  a  solemn  con- 
firmation of  them  should  be  given  by  the  Sultan  and  formally  communi- 
cated to  Russia,  was  admitted  ;  but  that  the  guardianship  and  enforce- 
ment of  these  privileges  should  rest  with  Russia  and  not  with  the 
Sovereign  who  granted  them,  and  that  the  privileges  granted  \.o  foreign 
members  of  other  Christian  Churches  should  be  equally  enjoyed  by  the 
millions  of  Turkish  subjects  belonging  to  the  Greek  Church,  appeared 
to  the  Cabinets  of  Vienna  and  Berlin,  as  well  as  to  those  of  Paris  and 
London,  inconsistent  with  the  maintenance  of  the  Sultan's  inde- 
pendent authority. 


% 


250  LORD  ABERDEEN 

demonstrations  of  sympathy  with  the  Porte  than  the  two 
Central  Powers  of  Europe  were  at  the  time  prepared  to 
support. 

Lord  Palmerston  believed  sincerely  in  the  regeneration 
of  Turkey,  and  suspected  Russia  of  the  most  sinister  designs. 
He  was  therefore  disposed  to  consider  Constantinople  con- 
structively attacked  by  any  hostilities  whatever  between 
Russia  and  the  Porte.  He  detested  the  Austrian  Govern- 
ment, and  disliked  the  idea  of  waiting  for  its  concurrence — 
perhaps  that  of  any  concert  at  all  with  Austria  which  would 
render  the  encouragement  of  revolutionary  outbreaks  in 
Lombardy,  Hungary,  and  Poland  impossible.  Nor  had  he 
any  great  fear  or  horror  of  war,  or  any  strong  sense  of  the 
advantage  of  German  alliances.  To  his  easy  optimism  it 
seemed  a  light  task  for  England  and  France  united  to 
overcome  the  forces  of  Russia. 

Though  he  did  not  fully  sympathise  with  Lord  Palmer- 
ston's  aspirations.  Lord  John  Russell  also  but  imperfectly 
appreciated  the  strength  and  value  of  European  concert.  A 
patriotic  Englishman,  he  had  no  misgivings  as  to  the  power, 
as  well  as  right,  of  England  to  act  alone.  His  peculiar 
position  made  him  also  very  sensitive  to  the  strictures  of 
the  press  and  the  possible  censure  of  Parliament,  and  he 
was  anxious  not  only  to  take  such  steps  as  would  preserve 
peace,  but  such  as  would  conciliate  public  opinion.  In  his 
opinion,  Constantinople  should   be  deemed  attacked  if  a 

i  Russian  soldier  crossed  the  Danube. 

\ ,  The  position  of  Lord  Aberdeen  and  those  who  agreed 
with  him  was  a  peculiar  one.  They  formed  a  large  majority 
in  the  Cabinet.  In  the  ordinary  course  of  things  any  resolu- 
tion arrived  at  by  them  would  have  been  at  once  acted  on,  and 
any  dissentient  member  of  the  Cabinet  must  have  acquiesced 
in  the  steps  adopted,  or  resigned.     But  the  resignation  of 


ACTION    OF   THE   CABINET  25 1 

Lord  John  Russell  would  have  destroyed  the  Government, 
and  thus  probably  have  made  inevitable  that  very  calamity  of 
war  which  it  was  desired  to  prevent.  On  every  occasion  of 
difference  with  him,  therefore,  Lord  Aberdeen  and  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Cabinet  had  to  consider  how  far  they  could, 
without  sacrificing  their  own  policy,  agree  to  meet  his  wishes. 
The  case  was  not  that  of  individuals  reluctantly  remaining 
members  of  a  Cabinet  from  the  policy  of  which'  they  dis- 
sented, but  that  of  a  Cabinet  striving  to  meet  the  scruples 
and  hesitation  of  some  of  its  members.  The  disposition 
to  do  so  may  have  been  carried  too  far,  but  it  is  by  no 
means  clear  at  what  moment  it  would  have  been  right  to 
accept  a  rupture,  or  at  which  indeed  it  would  not  have  been 
wrong  to  throw  away  those  chances  of  peace  which  still 
existed,  and  which  would  have  been  sacrificed  had  Lord 
Aberdeen,  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  Sir  James  Graham  quitted 
the  Cabinet.  And  if  it  be  not  easy,  even  now,  to  pronounce 
at  what  particular  moment  a  decided  stand  should  have 
been  made  against  any  further  step  in  support  of  Turkey,  it 
was  yet  more  difficult  to  do  so  during  the  progress  of  the 
negotiation.  I  myself  regret  that  such  a  stand  was  not  made 
before  the  Turkish  declaration  of  war,  and  that  Lord  Aber- 
deen did  not  press  to  the  last  extremity  his  proposal  that 
the  Turks  should  be  plainly  told  that  they  must  not  expect 
the  assistance  of  Great  Britain  in  a  war  commenced  in 
defiance  of  her  advice.  It  afforded  almost  the  last  chance 
of  recovering  any  real  freedom  of  action,  and,  although  the 
Government  might  have  been  broken  up.  Lord  Aberdeen's 
course  would  have  been  intelligible  and  consistent.  Could 
he  have  relied  on  the  support  of  Lord  John  Russell,  he 
would  doubtless  have  insisted  on  this  intimation  being  given 
to  the  Porte.  He  was  prepared  to  disregard  the  secession  of 
Lord  Palmerston,  and   the  probability  of  expulsion   from 


252  LORD  ABERDEEN 

office  on  the  re-assembling  of  Parliament  ;  for  he  was  con- 
fident that  he  could,  in  the  interval,  effect  an  arrangement 
which,  once  effected,  would  not  be  subsequently  disturbed, 
although  its  authors  might  be  overwhelmed  by  popular 
disapprobation.  But  the  retirement  of  Lord  John  would 
have  involved  the  dissolution  of  the  Government,  and  the 
dissolution  of  the  Government  necessarily  involved  war.  On 
the  whole,  therefore,  he  thought  (and  those  on  whom  he 
most  relied  for  advice  thought  with  him)  that  the  interests 
of  peace  would  be  best  served  by  attempting  to  gain,  though 
by  a  less  perfect  road,  the  immediate  object  he  had  in  view, 
— the  prevention  of  acts  of  open  hostility  between  the 
Russian  and  Turkish  forces.  I  am  less  able  to  understand 
his  acquiescence  in  the  modification  introduced  by  Lord 
John  into  the  instructions  actually  sent,  and  which  practi- 
cally defeated  the  intention  of  the  Cabinet  that  the  Turkish 
Government  should  abstain  from  the  commencement  of 
hostilities  during  the  continuance  of  the  negotiations  to 
which  it  was  desired  to  give  free  play.  I  can  only  con- 
jecture that,  glad  and  surprised  to  find  Lord  John  assent 
to  his  proposal,  the  seemingly  trivial  verbal  modification 
passed  almost  without  Lord  Aberdeen's  notice,  if  indeed  he 
was  cognisant  of  it.  That  the  Divan  would  make  that  use  of 
it  which  they  did  was  certainly  not  contemplated  by  Lord 
Aberdeen,  nor  by  Lord  John  himself.  By  the  insertion  of 
the  words  '  a  reasonable  time,'  the  latter  wished  to  guard 
against  frivolous  delays,  which  he  apprehended  on  the  part 
of  Russia,  desirous,  as  he  supposed,  to  postpone  the  com- 
mencement of  hostilities  till  the  spring ;  but  he  had  no 
intention  of  intimating  to  the  Turks  that  by  postponing 
operations  for  a  fortnight  they  would  fully  comply  with  the 
wishes  of  the  British  Government.  But  for  subsequent 
events  this  wilful  misunderstanding  of  the  purport  of  the 


LORD   STRATFORD   DE    REDCLIFFE  253 

English  demand  would  probably  have  been  made  the  ground 
for  refusing  assistance  to  Turkey. 

Concessions,  however,  to  colleagues  at  home,  and  to  the 
exigencies  of  the  French  Emperor,  need  not  necessarily  havei 
resulted  in  war,  had  the  cause  of  peace  been  zealously  servedj 
by  the  British  Ambassador  at   Constantinople.     Unfortu- 
nately, it  was  not. 

Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe  possessed  great  abilities  and 
great  acquirements,  but  his  hatred  and  dread  of  Russian  in- 
fluence in  Turkey  bore  a  character  of  fanaticism.  Nor  was 
his  temperament  that  of  a  mediator  and  peacemaker.  He 
was  a  man  of  strong  will  and  of  imperious  and  hasty  temper, 
impatient  of  control,  and  little  accustomed  to  heed  instruc- 
tions he  disapproved.  He  probably  thought  that  in  formally 
complying  with  them  he  did  all  that  strict  duty  required  of 
him.  Of  the  highest  personal  integrity,  chivalrous  and 
honourable  above  other  men,  he  yet  allowed  himself,  where 
he  conceived  national  interests  to  be  at  stake,  to  disregard 
the  spirit,  while  he  obeyed  the  letter,  of  the  instructions  he 
received.  No  doubt,  he  deemed  that  he  had  a  higher  duty 
to  perform  towards  the  nation  he  represented  than  to  the 
Ministry  which  he  for  the  time  served.  It  may  even  be 
that,  in  the  absorbing  interest  of  each  step  in  the  game,  the 
exact  nature  of  the  part  he  was  playing  never  fully  presented 
itself  to  him.  He  knew  too,  and  perhaps  took  into  account, 
the  fact  that  some~members  ot  the~~Bntish  Cabinet  shared 
his  own  views,  and  had  but  reluctantly  acquiesced  in  the 
instructions  which  he  ostensibly  obeyed  and  virtually  dis- 
regarded. But  whatever  the  motives  by  which  he  was 
actuated  (and  none  that  are  not  high  and  noble  should  be 
■  attributed  to  him)  it  is  not  the  less  the  case  that  a  large — 
perhaps  the  largest — share  of  responsibility  for  the  Crimean 
War  must  rest  upon  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  Voluntarily, 


254  LORD   ABERDEEN 

or  involuntarily,  he  allowed  it  to  be  perceived  that  he  thought 
the  Porte  would  act  wisely  in  rejecting  the  advice  of  which 
he  was  the  official  mouthpiece.  He  encouraged  the  not 
unnatural  desire  of  the  Sultan  '  to  strike  off  the  fetters  of 
Kainardji  and  Adrianople  '  and  '  settle  accounts  with  Russia 
once  for  all ; '  ^  and  those  about  him  had  no  doubt  that  he 
hoped  for  a  war  which  he  believed  would  humiliate  Russia 
and  give  new  life  to  the  Ottoman  Empire.^  Nor  is  it  easy 
to  read  his  despatches  without  arriving  at  the  same  conclu- 
sion. 
\  It  has  been  asked,  and  not  unreasonably,  why,  if  all  this 

/  1        was  known  to  the  Cabinet,  his  recall  was  not  insisted  on  ?   But 
*       ito  this  measure  Lord  John  Russell,  Lord  Palmerston,  and 
(/several  of  their  colleagues  would  not  have  consented.    Their 
j  resignation  would  have  dissolved  the  Cabinet,  and  the  disso- 
1  lution  of  the  Cabinet,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  meant 
j  war.     In  these  circumstances,  nothing  short  of  a  conviction 
I  that  Lord  Stratford's  further  stay  at  Constantinople  rendered 
the  continuance  of  peace  impossible  would  have  justified  his 
recall  ;  and  of  this  Lord  Aberdeen  was  not  convinced.    On 
the   contrary,  'by  great  prudence  and   watchfulness,   and 
with  careful  instructions,'  he  '  hoped  that  mischief  might  be 
prevented ; '   and  after   anxiously   considering    with   Lord 
Clarendon  the  balance  of  dangers,  they  decided  that  it  was 
safer  to  run  the  risks  involved  in  Lord  Stratford's  retention 

'  Lord  Stratford's  own  words. 

2  I  was  told  by  the  late  Dr.  H.  Sandwith,  C.B.,  that,  on  receiving 
the  news  of  the  battle  of  Sinope,  Lord  Stratford  exclaimed  in  a  loud 
voice,  '  Thank  God,  that's  War.'  I  have  heard  this  also  from  General 
Sir  F.  (then  Colonel)  WilHams ;  but,  though  intimately  acquainted 
with  all  that  passed  at  the  Embassy,  he  was  not  at  that  moment  with 
Lord  Stratford,  which  Dr.  Sandwith  was.  According  to  Lord  Malmes- 
bury's  Memoirs  (not  always  a  safe  authority),  vol.  i.  p.  425,  and 
Greville's  Diaries,  3rd  series,  vol.  ii.  p.  140,  Lord  Stratford  said  much 
the  same  to  Lord  Bath,  on  the  entry  of  the  fleets  into  the  Black  Sea. 


PUBLIC   FEELING   IN    ENGLAND         V    255 


of  his  Embassy  than  to  incur  those  attending  an  attempt, 
probably  ineffectual,  to  recall  him.  Their  'watchfulness,' 
however,  did  not  prevent  the  prospect  of  war  being  at  more 
than  one  critical  moment  brought  perceptibly  nearer  by  what 
Loi.d  Stratford  did  or  refrained  from  doing.  ^ — 

/     Nevertheless,  the  policy   which  would   have  preserved 
/  peace  unless  Russia  were  prepared  to  defy  all  Europe  might 
I    yet  have  been  successfully  adhered  to,  had  it  not  been  for 
Vthe  growth  in  England  of  a  popular  cry  for  war.    Its  progress 
was  at  first  slow  ;  but  after  the  beginning  of  October  1853 
it  spread  very  rapidly,  and  soon  assumed  an  intensity  which 
it  is  now  hard  to  realise.     No  one  who  has  failed  to  study 
carefully  the  newspapers  of  that  day — perhaps  those  only 
who  personally  recollect  the  state  of  opinion  at  that  time 
— can  have  any  idea  of  the  enthusiasm  and  unanimity  dis- 
played.    Whigs  and  Tories  and  Radicals,  men  and  women, 
young  and  old,  orators  on  the  platform  and  preachers  in  the 
pulpit,  vied  with  one  another  in  denunciations  of  the  am- 
bition of  Russia  and  of  the  supineness  of  the  Government 
in   resisting   its   encroachments.      A  few  members  of  the 
Cabinet  and  a  few  dispassionate  men  out   of  office,  such 
as  Lord  Grey,  Bright,  and  Cobden,  strove  in  vain  to  recall 
the  nation  to  a  sense  of  the  losses  and  risks  involved  in  war, 
and  the  inadequacy  of  the  motives  for  incurring  them,  but 
they  were  unheeded,  or  heard  only  with  irritation  and  impa- 
tience.   When  for  a  moment  it  was  believed  that  the  Emperor 
Nicholas  had  accepted  the  whole  of  the  Vienna  proposals  of 
January  1854,  a  cry  of  disappointment  that  'the  beggar  would 
not  fight'  rang  through  the  land.     Those  who  still  preached 
peace  were  branded  as  men  indifferent  to  the  honour  of  the 
'  country,  if  not   indeed   something  worse  ;   and  absurd  as 
was   the   impulse   which  attracted  crowds   to  Tower   Hill 
to  witness  the  committal  of  the  Prince  Consort  and  Lord 


256  LORD  ABERDEEN 

[Aberdeen  to  the  Tower,  the  very  fact  that  such  gatherings 
were  possible  is  sufficient  to  show  the  popular  excitement, 
and  the  degree  of  exasperation  which  prevailed  against 
those  who  were  supposed  to  hinder  the  commencement  of 
hostilities.  Lord  Aberdeen  deplored  the  popular  fury  and 
its  probable  results,  but  his  judgment  was  not  influenced  by 
it.  He  had  no  sympathy  with  the  feelings  which  at  an 
earlier  period  had  led  Lord  Clarendon,  though  agreeing 
with  Lord  Aberdeen  in  principle  and  loyally  supporting 
him  in  the  Cabinet,  to  recommend  that  he  should  allow 
the  fleet  to  be  sent  to  the  Dardanelles,  as  being  *the 
least  measure  that  would  satisfy  public  opinion '  and  one 
that  might  *  do  some  good  to  ourselves,  which  ought  not  to 
be  our  last  consideration.'  When  Lord  Palmerston  about 
the  same  time,  and  in  reference  to  the  same  step,  wrote,  '  I 
am  confident  that  the  country  expects  this  course,  and  I 
cannot  believe  that  we  should  receive  anything  but  support 
in  pursuing  it  from  the  party  now  in  opposition,'  Lord 
Aberdeen  replied :  '  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  the 
country  and  the  party  of  opposition  in  the  House  of 
Commons  would  be  delighted  if  we  took  such  a  step.  But 
the  country  would"  not  look  to  the  consequences,  and  the 
Opposition  would  only  anticipate  our  speedy  overthrow.  In 
a  case  of  this  kind  I  dread  popular  support.' 

But  the  force  of  public  opinion  had  a  powerful  effect  on 
the  Cabinet  at  large.  Several  of  those  who  had  shared 
Lord  Aberdeen's  views  went  over  to  the  side  of  immediate 
war.  Even  those  to  whom  he  most  looked  for  assistance 
considered  the  whole  blame  of  the  rupture  to  rest  upon  the 
Emperor  Nicholas,  on  account  of  his  refusal  of  the  terms  of 
agreement  sent  from  Vienna  in  January  1854,  and  urged  the 
immediate  despatch  to  St.  Petersburg  of  the  summons  to 
evacuate  the  Principalities  which  had   been  suggested   by 


DECLARATION   OF   WAR  257 

Austria.  To  this  Lord  Aberdeen  assented,  believing  it  to 
be  the  seal  of  that  European  concert  as  to  which  he 
was  so  anxious,  and  from  which  he  looked  for  such  great 
results.  Having  once  assented  to  it,  it  was  impossible  for 
him,  even  though  he  found  that  it  was  not  to  receive  the 
support  on  which  he  had  counted,  to  dissent  from  its 
inevitable  consequence.  The  summons  had  gone  with  his 
consent,  and  being  unanswered,  he  could  not  but  concur 
in  the  declaration  of  war  which  followed.  He  did  so  with 
a  heavy  heart.  '  The  abstract  justice  of  the  cause,'  he 
wrote  to  Lord  John  Russell,  '  although  indisputable,  is  but 
a  poor  consolation  for  the  inevitable  calamities  of  all  war, 
or  for  a  decision  which  I  am  not  without  fear  may  prove  to 
have  been  impolitic  and  unwise.  My  conscience  upbraids 
me  the  more  because,  seeing,  as  I  did  from  the  first,  all  that 
was  to  be  apprehended,  it  is  possible  that,  by  a  little  more 
energy  and  vigour,  not  on  the  Danube,  but  in  Downing 
Street,  it  might  have  been  prevented.'  He  admitted  that 
war  was  now  inevitable,  while  with  his  whole  soul  he  longed 
to  be  reUeved  from  the  burden  of  conducting  it.  But 
he  decided  that,  on  the  whole,  it  would  be  better  for  the 
interests  of  peace,  and,  as  he  believed,  of  England,  that 
he  should  remain  at  his  post.  So  long  as  he  did  so,  the 
war  would  not  be  converted  into  an  engine  for  remodel- 
ling the  map  of  Europe.  He  was  more  likely  than  any 
other  man  to  secure  that  co-operation  of  Austria  to  which 
he  looked  for  bringing  the  war  to  a  speedy  close  ;  and  if 
the  war  fever  subsided,  which  he  believed  it  would  do  as 
rapidly  as  it  had  arisen,  it  would  be  well  that  the  Govern- 
ment should  have  at  its  head  a  man  determined  to  seize 
the  first  opportunity  for  concluding  an  honourable  peace. 
Lord  Aberdeen  as  on  other  occasions  undertook  manfully  a 
task  he  loathed.     In  so  doing  he  may  have  been  right  or 

s 


258  LORD   ABERDEEN 

he  may  have  been  mistaken  ;  but  he  certainly  never  gave  a 
greater  example  of  that  quiet  self-sacrifice  to  a  sense  of  duty 
which  through  life  distinguished  him. 

War  once  declared,  Lord  Aberdeen's  main  object  was  the 
early  re-establishment  of  peace.  This,  he  perceived,  could 
only  be  effected  by  accomplishing  the  objects  for  which  the 
war  was  undertaken ;  and  to  do  this  he  thought  it  necessary 
to  keep  those  objects  steadily  in  view  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  others  ;  to  prosecute  the  war  vigorously  ;  and,  above  all, 
to  unite  the  forces  of  Austria  with  those  of  the  two  Powers 
already  engaged  in  the  contest. 

To  all  that  would  widen  the  scope  of  the  war,  or  direct 
it  to  other  objects  than  those  it  was  originally  undertaken 
to  effect,  he  was  immovably  opposed.  It  was  not  to 
restore  Finland  to  Sweden,  or  the  Crimea  to  Turkey ;  it 
was  not  to  make  Poland  independent,  or  to  transfer 
Lombardy  from  the  Emperor  of  Austria  to  the  King  of 
Sardinia,  that  England  had  gone  to  war.  To  ensure  the 
security  of  Turkey,  Lord  Aberdeen  had  reluctantly  con- 
sented to  the  commencement  of  hostilities.  He  was  not 
prepared  to  continue  them  for  other  purposes.  Moreover, 
he  thought,  and  thought  justly,  that  the  expedition  to  the 
Crimea  would  tax  all  the  resources  of  this  country,  and  that 
it  was  the  reverse  of  sound  policy,  until  Sebastopol  had 
fallen,  to  undertake  other  enterprises. 

Lord  Aberdeen's  abhorrence  of  exaggeration,  his  inability 
to  simulate  passionate  resentment  which  he  did  not  feel,  or 
apprehensions  which  he  did  not  share,  and  his  determination 
to  confine  the  war  to  its  original  objects,  not  unnaturally 
produced  an  impression  of  half-heartedness  in  its  prose- 
cution, which  rendered  him  highly  unpopular.  A  nation  at  war 
is  not  disposed  to  regard  the  case  of  its  opponent  judicially 
or  dispassionately,  and  the  Emperor  Nicholas  was  for  the 


LORD  ABERDEEN    AND   THE   WAR  259 

moment  regarded  by  the  British  pubhc  with  as  much  alarm 
and  hatred  as  had  ever  been  the  case  with  Bonaparte  himself. 
Lord  Aberdeen  considered  the  Russian  pretensions  in- 
admissible, and  the  cause  of  Turkey  just ;  but  he  had  no 
apprehensions  of  Russia  as  a  European  power,  and  no 
sympathy  with  those  who  would  have  undertaken  a  crusade 
for  her  destruction.  When,  therefore.  Lord  Lyndhurst,  in 
the  House  of  Lords,  pronounced  a  vehement  philippic 
against  the  Czar,  and  made  an  impassioned  appeal  to  his 
hearers  on  behalf  of  the  liberties  of  Europe,  threatened  by 
the  encroachments  of  Russia,  Lord  Aberdeen,  in  replying 
to  him,  expressed  his  exact  thoughts  and  opinions  with  the 
most  transparent  openness.  Read  now,  his  speech  would 
probably  appear  to  most  men  unexceptionable.  His 
sentiments  were  in  fact  those  of  more  than  one  of  his  col- 
leagues, but  their  avowal  raised  a  storm  of  obloquy  which 
he  had  some  difficulty  in  fully  understanding.  That  the 
conduct  of  the  Russian  Government  should  be  impartially 
considered  was  not  to  be  borne  ;  and  it  was  not  unnaturally 
supposed  that  Lord  Aberdeen,  feeling  no  strong  animosity 
against  Russia,  and  anxious  to  restore  peace,  would  shrink 
from  prosecuting  the  war  with  decision  and  vigour. 

But  this  belief,  however  natural,  was  altogether  mis- 
taken. Lord  Aberdeen  held  in  the  strongest  manner  that 
peace  would  be  the  more  speedily  obtained  the  heavier 
and  more  rapid  were  the  blows  struck  by  the  allies  ;  and, 
in  the  language  of  Sir  James  Graham,  '  he  was  ever  ready 
to  listen  to  the  most  decided  counsels,  and  give  effect  to  the 
boldest  enterprises.'  On  the  evacuation  of  the  Principalities, 
therefore,  he  was  one  of  those  who  most  warmly  advocated 
the  immediate  invasion  of  the  Crimea. 

The  war  with  Russia  is  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Crimean  War,  and  it  is  almost  forgotten  that  it  had  already 

s  2 


26o  LORD  ABERDEEN 

lasted  six  months  before  the  expedition  to  the  Crimea  was 
undertaken.     During  those  six  months  the  progress  of  the 
alHes  had  been  eminently  successful.      When,  in   March, 
war  was  declared,  the  Russian  forces  were  on  the  Danube, 
and  it  was  expected  that  the  country  south  of  the  Balkan 
would  be  the  scene  of  the  campaign.    By  July  there  was  not 
a  Russian  soldier  upon  Turkish  soil,  and  preparations  were 
already  on  foot  for  the  invasion  of  Russia.    In  the  north,  the 
Aland  Islands  had  been  seized  the  moment  the  navigation 
of  the  Baltic  was  possible.    A  great  fortress  (Bomarsund)  had 
been  destroyed,  battle  had  been  offered  to  the  Russian  fleet 
at  the  very  doors  of  the  capital,  and  the  way  lay  open  to  a 
series  of   brilliant    operations.     That  they  were  not   even 
attempted,  was  due  to  the  strange  and  unexpected  caution 
of  an  admiral  whose  previous  career  had  certainly  not  been 
distinguished  by  that  quality.     The  rapid  despatch  of  the 
army  to  the  East,  the  successful  landing  of  the  allied  forces 
in   the   Crimea,   the    brilliant   victory   of    the   Alma,   the 
commencement    of   the    siege    of    Sebastopol,    and    the 
anticipation  of  its  speedy  end,  caused  general  exultation  ; 
and   when    on   his   passage   through    Aberdeen,    early   in 
October,  on  his  way  to  spend  a  few  days  at  Haddo,  Lord 
Aberdeen  was   presented   with   a   congratulatory  address, 
he  was  told  by  Sir  James  Graham  that  his  answer  should  be 
'a.  song  of  triumph.'     The   personal  unpopularity,  which 
attached  to  him  for  his  supposed  want  of  sympathy  with 
the  popular  enmity  to  Russia,  was  for  the  time  swallowed 
up   in   the    satisfaction    caused    by    these  achievements  ; 
and   on   the   fall   of    Sebastopol,   which    was    then    daily 
expected,  it   was   Lord   Aberdeen's   intention   to   dissolve 
Parliament,  a  step  which  at  that  moment  would  undoubtedly 
have  secured  a  large  ministerial  majority.     But  during  the 
next  three  months  the  favour  which  the  Government  had 


CORRESPONDENTS   IN   THE  CAMP  26 1 

temporarily  acquired  with  the  public  was  rapidly  lost.  The 
first  and  perhaps  chief  cause  for  this  change  of  sentiment 
may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  for  a  whole  week  a  false 
report  of  the  fall  of  Sebastopol  was  universally  believed. 
Even  when  it  was  found  that  its  capture  had  not  yet  been 
effected,  it  was  supposed  to  be  immediately  imminent ;  and 
an  impatience  for  the  speedy  close  of  the  siege  was  thus 
created  which  would  not  otherwise  have  existed,  and  the 
disappointment  of  which  excited  irritation  and  complaint. 
These  feelings  were  intensified  by  the  accounts  received, 
and  made  public,  of  the  privations  under  which  for  a  time 
the  army  suffered,  and  for  which  the  Government  at  home 
was  naturally  held  responsible ;  while  dissatisfaction  was 
increased  by  the  injudicious  publicity  given  to  all  the 
grumbling  and  hasty  censure  of  the  camp. 

The  conditions  under  which  intelligence  from  the  seat 
of  war  was  given  to  the  public  were  singularly  unfortunate. 
No  English  army  had  previously  been  attended  by  news- 
paper correspondents.  Never  before  had  there  been  so 
many  men  in  the  ranks  who  could  write,  and  never  before 
had  there  been  such  facilities  at  home  for  the  publication  of 
soldiers'  letters.  On  the  other  hand,  the  checks  upon  the 
amount  and  character  of  the  information  furnished,  which 
have  since  been  imposed,  had  not  then  been  devised.  The 
newspaper  correspondents  stood  in  no  recognised  relation 
to  the  Head-Quarters  Staff,  and  were  practically  under  no 
control ;  while  the  ignorant  and  often  hostile  criticism 
contained  in  the  letters  of  subalterns  and  sergeants  was 
published  without  reserve,  and  greedily  swallowed  by  the 
public.  Had  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  campaigns  in  the 
Peninsula  been  conducted  under  like  conditions,  it  may 
be  questioned  whether  they  would  ever  have  been  allowed 
to  reach  their  glorious  conclusion.     But  the  Duke's  army 


262  LORD   ABERDEEN 

was  not  accompanied  by  journalists  ;  the  number  of  private 
soldiers  who  wrote  letters  was  then  comparatively  small,  and 
the  letters  of  officers  to  their  families  were  not  scattered 
broadcast  with  the  same  want  of  reticence  as  in  1854.  In 
later  campaigns,  confusion  as  to  transmission  and  disposal 
of  stores  little  if  at  all  inferior  to  that  in  the  Crimea  has 
not  been  unknown  ;  but  means  had  then  been  found  of 
more  carefully  concealing  it  from  the  public  eye.  At  the 
time  of  the  Crimean  War  the  period  when  an  army  in  the 
field  was  silent  was  over  ;  that  of  judicious  censorship  had 
not  begun.  The  publicity  given  to  the  state  of  the  camp 
made  the  hardships  endured  by  the  army  during  November 
and  December  appear  greater  than  in  fact  they  really  were, 
and  greater  than  those  of  other  armies,  which  in  former 
campaigns  had  suffered  at  least  as  much,  but  in  silence. 
A  part  of  these  hardships  were  only  such  as  must  in- 
evitably attend  every  army  engaged  in  a  winter  campaign 
at  a  great  distance  from  its  base  of  operations.  But 
besides  these  there  were  real  hardships,  which  were  more 
or  less  preventible,  and  it  was  perfectly  natural  that  the 
Government  at  home  should  have  been  held  responsible 
for  them,  though  in  fact  little  to  blame.  There  was  no 
parsimony  in  the  despatch  of  stores  from  England.  Few 
at  all  realise  the  magnitude  of  the  blow  inflicted  by  the  loss 
of  the  transports  in  the  gale  of  November  13th.  For  the 
delay  in  delivery  at  the  front,  owing  to  the  condition  of 
the  road,  the  local  authorities  were  responsible,  and  so 
soon  as  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  reached  England  the 
construction  of  a  railway  was  resolved  on. 

Lord  Aberdeen  believed  that  the  pressure  which  Russia 
would  most  feel  would  be  the  junction  of  Austria  with  the 
allies ;  but  in  his  efforts  to  secure  such  united  action  he 
met   with  little   support   or   sympathy.      The  sincerity  of 


PROSPECTS  OF  PEACE  263 

Austria  was  doubted.  It  was  supposed  by  some  that  she 
was  secretly  aiding  Russia  and  was  unfriendly  to  the  allies  ; 
while  those  who  wished,  as  some  did,  to  carry  on  the 
war  for  Polish  and  Italian  objects,  preferred  her  enmity  to 
her  friendship.  Even  Lord  Clarendon,  who  was  not  one  of 
these,  and  who  loyally  acted  with  Lord  Aberdeen,  expressed 
himself  as  '  sorry  '  that  a  treaty  with  Austria  should  be  con- 
templated, and  predicted  that  she  would  never  be  brought 
to  sign  a  secret  article  fixing  a  date  for  the  commencement 
of  her  active  co-operation.  But  the  treaty  was  concluded, 
and  the  secret  article  signed  ;  and  the  immediate  effect  of  this 
step  was  to  compel  Russia  to  accept  the  basis  of  peace  pro- 
posed by  the  allies,  to  which  Austria  had  given  her  adhesion. 
After  some  discussion  it  was  agreed,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1855,  that,  while  hostilities  were  not  to  cease,  con- 
ferences for  peace  should  be  opened  at  Vienna. 

Lord  Aberdeen  now  saw  a  real  prospect  of  the  restora- 
tion of  peace.  He  believed  that  it  might  be  made  on  terms 
which  would  fully  attain  the  objects  of  the  war.  That  a 
peace  made  while  Sebastopol  was  yet  untaken  would  be 
fatal  to  the  Government  which  made  it  he  had  little  doubt, 
although,  if  Lord  John  Russell  were  the  negotiator — as 
Lord  Aberdeen  meant  that  he  should  be — he  considered  it 
possible  that  terms  accepted  by  Lord  John  might  be  accepted 
by  the  country.  For  this,  however,  he  cared  comparatively 
little  ;  he  at  all  events  saw  his  own  way  clear.  Only  a  day 
or  two  before  the  reassembling  of  Parliament  in  January  1855 
he  told  the  writer  that,  for  the  first  time  since  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war,  he  now  had  hopes  of  the  conclusion  of  a 
rational  peace,  and  that  if  it  were  effected  he  should  not 
•regret  having  remained  minister.  But  even  if  peace  were 
not  made,  as  he  would  certainly  be  no  party  to  insisting  on  the 
acceptance  of  unreasonable  conditions,  he  saw  a  prospect  of 


264  LORD   ABERDEEN 

his  own  deliverance  from  bondage.  He  was  more  cheerful 
and  more  hopeful  than  he  had  been  at  any  time  since  the 
war  began.  A  few  days  later,  his  hopes  of  peace,  or  of 
securing  at  least  an  honourable  retreat  from  office,  were 
destroyed  by  the  sudden,  and  at  that  moment  unexpected, 
secession  of  Lord  John  Russell  from  the  Cabinet ;  the  votes 
of  whose  followers,  combined  with  those  of  the  regular 
opposition,  carried  Mr.  Roebuck's  motion  for  an  inquiry 
into  the  conduct  of  the  war,  and  by  so  doing  overthrew 
Lord  Aberdeen's  Government.  But  the  causes  which  led 
to  this  result  must  form  the  subject  of  a  separate  chapter. 


26s 


CHAPTER   X 

LORD   JOHN    RUSSELL   AS   A   COLLEAGUE 

Lord  John  Russell  and  the  Vienna  Note — Lord  Palmerston's  Resigna- 
tion— Postponement  of  the  Reform  Bill — Correspondence  respect- 
ing the  War  Office — The  Kennedy  Affair— Resignation  of  Lord 
John  Russell— Letter  to  the  Duke  of  Bedford. 

In  more  than  one  letter  written  during  the  summer  of  1852 
Lord  Aberdeen  expressed  his  opinion  that  the  Government 
which  it  would  be  most  for  the  benefit  of  the  country  to 
form,  and  which  would  offer  the  best  prospect  of  perma- 
nence, was  one  of  which  Lord  John  Russell  should  be  the 
head,  but  which  should  include  among  its  members  the 
principal  friends  and  followers  of  Sir  Robert  Peel. 

That  the  formation  of  such  a  Government  was  at  the 
moment  impossible  Lord  Aberdeen  recognised  with  regret. 
That  it  was  impossible  was  felt  by  all,  save  a  certain 
fraction  of  the  old  Whig  party.  Those  who  saw  their  own 
exclusion  from  the  Cabinet  threatened,  to  make  room  for 
Peelites,  naturally  felt  aggrieved.  Those  who,  not  having 
yet  held  it,  looked  forward  to  office  themselves,  deprecated 
any  widening  of  the  circle  of  selection  involving  a  diminu- 
tion of  their  own  chances.  A  certain  number  of  narrow 
party  politicians,  too,  hated  the  very  thought  of  combination 
with  men  who  had  long  been  their  opponents,  and  still  sat 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  House  to  themselves.  But,  to 
all  beyond  this  restricted  though  not  uninfluential  circle, 
it  was  apparent  that  the  time  had  not  yet  arrived  for  Lord 


266  LORD  ABERDEEN 

John's  restoration  to  the  highest  seat  of  power.  The  just 
anger  of  the  Roman  CathoHc  body,  and  the  resentment  of 
Lord  Palmerston,  had  been  too  recently  excited,  and  the 
distrust  of  some  of  the  most  conspicuous  members  of  the 
PeeUte  party  was  still  too  strong,  to  permit  the  experiment  to 
be  made  with  safety.  With  Lord  John,  Peelites,  Papists,  and 
Palmerston  alike  might  act  ;  under  him,  they  as  yet  could 
not.  As  the  summer  passed,  this  was  more  and  more  clearly 
seen  by  those  best  able  to  feel  the  pulse  of  public  opinion, 
including  that  very  shrewd  observer.  Lord  John's  own 
brother,  the  Duke  of  Bedford  ;  and  it  was  acquiesced  in  by 
Lord  John  himself.  Lord  Aberdeen  therefore  reluctantly 
allowed  himself  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  the  new 
Government.  He  was  the  natural  leader  of  the  Peelites, 
who,  of  course,  readily  took  office  under  him.  He  had 
headed  the  opposition  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill,  and 
was  therefore  acceptable  to  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the 
Irish.  If  Lord  John  himself  became  a  member  of  his 
Government,  no  other  Whig,  if  asked,  could  well  refuse  to 
do  so  ;  and  if  Lord  Palmerston  was  willing  to  serve  under 
so  old  an  opponent  as  Lord  Aberdeen,  there  were  no  such 
personal  injuries  on  either  side  to  forgive  as  those  which 
stood  between  Lord  Palmerston  and  Lord  John.  But  in 
assuming  the  position,  Lord  Aberdeen  did  so  with  a  full 
intention  of  using  all  his  influence  to  bring  about  ultimately 
what  he  considered  a  better  arrangement,  whenever  it  could 
be  effected  without  breaking  up  the  Government ;  for  this 
he  did  not  think  it  would  be  fair  either  to  the  Queen  or  to 
his  colleagues  to  do  for  such  an  object. 

In  consenting  to  serve  with  and  under  Lord  Aberdeen, 
Lord  John  undoubtedly  made  a  great  sacrifice  to  his  sense 
of  public  duty ;  but  though  capable  of  an  act  of  self- 
abnegation.  Lord  John  was  unable  to  sustain  with   equal 


FORMATION   OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  267 

magnanimity  the  position  in  which  he  found  himself  placed 
by  that  act.  Left  to  himself,  it  is  probable  that  the 
same  spirit  which  had  prompted  his  first  generous  de- 
termination would  have  sustained  him  in  its  execution. 
Unfortunately,  however,  some  of  those  who  were  most 
about  him  in  private  life,  and  who  shared  most  largely  his 
familiar  confidence,  were  themselves  members  of  that  small 
band  of  disappointed  office-seekers  who  had  sustained  the 
injury  of  exclusion,  and,  still  worse,  the  slight  of  seeing 
others  of  their  own  party  preferred  to  themselves.  These 
men,  though  counted  among  its  supporters,  hated  the 
newly-formed  Government  with  greater  hatred  than  was 
felt  for  it  by  the  regular  opposition,  and,  above  all  things, 
desired  to  put  an  end  to  what  they  considered  an  unnatural 
combination.  They  were  ever  on  the  watch  to  point  out  to 
Lord  John  slights  which  were  not  intended,  to  embitter 
every  difference,  to  dwell  on  and  exaggerate  every  unfounded 
bit  of  gossip,  to  extol  and  confirm  any  hesitation  which 
Lord  John  felt  as  to  common  action  with  his  colleagues. 
Unfortunately  they  succeeded  but  too  well. 

After  a  discussion  which  took  place  almost  immediately 
after  the  formation  of  the  Government  as  to  the  time  for 
which  Lord  John  should  hold  the  seals  of  the  Foreign 
Office,  Lord  Aberdeen  told  him  that  so  soon  as  he  found 
the  Cabinet  prepared  to  accept  Lord  John  as  his  successor, 
it  was  his  intention  to  *  slip  out  of  office.'  This  prospect 
made  Lord  John  for  the  time  less  restless,  though  even 
during  the  first  six  months  of  1853  he  twice  tendered  his 
resignation. 

The  session  closed  on  August  20th,  and  closed  trium- 

■  phantly  for  the  Government.     Lord  Aberdeen  thought  the 

time  had  now  come  at  which  his  proposal  to  retire  in  Lord 

John's  favour  might  be  made   to   the  Cabinet  with  some 


268  LORD  ABERDEEN 

chance  of  success.  It  was,  therefore,  mentioned  by  him 
privately  to  several  of  his  colleagues.  Not  one  of  them 
accepted  the  suggestion  willingly,  and  in  this  respect  several 
of  Lord  John's  former  friends  showed  quite  as  strong  a 
disinclination  to  the  change  as  Lord  Aberdeen's  personal 
adherents.  Still,  the  most  important  of  them  had  been 
spoken  to  and  had  consented.  Mr.  Gladstone,  however, 
who  was  known  to  be  the  member  of  the  Government  most 
unlikely  to  consent,  was  absent  from  town.  To  him  Lord 
Aberdeen  wrote,  saying  that  it  was  essential  that  he  should 
see  him  for  the  discussion  of  a  matter  of  the  most  urgent 
importance,  and  appointed  a  day  on  which  to  meet  him  at 
Haddo  House. 

When  that  day  came,  neither  Lord  Aberdeen  nor  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  at  Haddo.  Lord  Aberdeen  was  kept  in 
town  by  the  hesitation  of  the  Porte  to  accept  the  Vienna 
Note,  and  wrote  to  Mr.  Gladstone  at  Haddo,  where  he  sup- 
posed him  to  be,  begging  him  to  remain  there  a  few  days 
till  he  could  himself  come  down  to  Scotland  after  a  settle- 
ment of  the  Turkish  question.  But  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  was 
on  a  visit  at  Dunrobin,  was  detained  there  for  some  weeks 
by  serious  illness.  When  he  and  Lord  Aberdeen  did  meet 
a  month  later  in  London,  the  whole  complexion  of  affairs 
was  changed. 

Lord  John  had  borne,  not  without  impatience,  but  still 
had  borne,  a  delay  which  he  trusted  would  be  terminated  by 
his  accession  to  power  at  the  end  of  the  session.  Imme- 
diately after  the  prorogation  he  had  intimated  to  Lord 
Aberdeen  that  it  was  only  as  its  head  that  he  would  remain 
a  member  of  the  Government.  He  had  done  this  in  a 
manner  which  Lord  Aberdeen,  considering  all  his  own 
exertions  on  Lord  John's  behalf,  thought  peremptory  and 
ungracious,  but  which  caused  no  change  in  Lord  Aberdeen's 


THE  VIENNA   NOTE  269 

intentions.  Difficulties,  however,  which  had  not  been  an- 
ticipated, arose  as  to  the  acceptance  of  the  Vienna  Note, 
and  Lord  John  himself  was  compelled  to  admit  that  Lord 
Aberdeen's  retirement  at  that  moment  was  impossible.  But 
the  disappointment  he  now  sustained  overcame  his  equa- 
nimity, and  from  that  time,  with  the  exception  of  two  short 
intervals  of  cordiality,  to  be  hereafter  mentioned,  he  seems  to 
have  regarded  Lord  Aberdeen  not  as  the  head  and  chief 
of  the  Government  of  which  he  was  a  member,  but  as  an 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  his  own  resumption  of  what  he 
deemed  his  proper  place. 

At  the  time  when  the  acceptance  of  the  Vienna  Note 
by  Russia  had  seemed  to  render  the  continuance  of  peace 
certain.  Lord  John  was  prepared  for  the  refusal  of  the  Czar 
to  accept  any  modifications  in  it.  He  then  wrote  to  Lord 
Aberdeen  : 

I  am  very  sorry  for  the  wrong-headed  answer  of  the  Turks. 
I  think,  as  you  do,  that  we  cannot  press  the  Emperor  to  accept 
the  modifications,  but  we  may  tell  him  he  will  do  well  to  do  so^ 
as  it  will  close  the  chapter. 

Lord  John,  at  the  request  of  Lord  Aberdeen  and  Lord 
Clarendon,  came  to  London,  and  conferred  with  them  and 
Lord  Palmerston.  Lord  Aberdeen  wrote  to  Sir  James 
Graham  the  same  evening  of  this  interview  : 

We  occupied  ourselves  a  good  deal  in  considering  the  pro- 
ceedings which  should  be  adopted  by  the  Conference  at  Vienna, 
with  a  view  to  induce  the  Turks  to  accept  the  Note,  in  case  the 
Emperor,  as  is  most  likely,  should  reject  their  proposed  modifi- 
cations.    In  this  we  were  pretty  well  agreed. 

Lord  John  returned  to  Scotland,  and  on  the  receipt  of 

the  Emperor's  refusal  of  the  modifications.  Lord  Aberdeen 

wrote  to  him  there  as  follows  : 

Palmerston  was  with  us  yesterday,  and  we  agreed  to  pro- 
pose at  Vienna  that  the  Four  Powers  should  declare  that  they 
adopted  the  Turkish  modifications  as  their  own  interpretation 


270  LORD   ABERDEEN 

of  the  Note,  and  that  they  were  prepared  to  adhere  to  this 
interpretation  in  all  time  hereafter.  This  would  be  a  virtual 
guarantee  to  the  Porte  of  more  value  than  any  they  could 
expect.  Indeed  the  declaration  is  so  strong  that  I  entertain 
some  doubt  of  its  being  agreed  to  by  Austria  and  Prussia.  But 
it  is  still  more  doubtful  whether  Lord  Stratford  will  allow  the 
Turks  to  accept  it. 

This  was  in  substance  what  had  been  agreed  on  at 
their  former  meeting,  and  Lord  Aberdeen  was  consequently 
astonished  and  dismayed  by  the  receipt  in  quick  succes- 
sion of  two  notes  from  Lord  John,  one  written  before  and 
one  after  the  receipt  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  letter.  In  the 
first  he  said  : 

I  was  in  hopes  the  Emperor  might  have  accepted  some  of 
the  modifications.  I  must  now  conclude  .  .  .  that  nothing  less 
than  the  subjection  of  Turkey  will  satisfy  him.  If  that  is  the 
case  the  question  must  be  decided  by  war,  and  if  we  do  not 
stop  the  Russians  on  the  Danube  we  shall  have  to  stop  them  on 
the  Indus. 

As  the  rejection  of  the  modifications  had  all  along  been 

expected,   and   as   Lord   John   had   fully  agreed   that  the 

acceptance  of  the  unmodified  Note  should  nevertheless,  in 

that  case,  be  pressed  upon  the  Porte,  this  was  sufficiently 

startling.      Still   more   unexpected  was   the  intimation,  in 

reply  to  Lord  Aberdeen's  letter,  that  the  '  only  hope '  he 

had  was 

that  Turkey  may  instantly  reject  such  a  proposal,  but  even  that 
will  not  wipe  away  the  shame  of  having  made  it.  .  .  .  If  the 
Austrians  agree  to  Clarendon's  terms,  and  forward  them  to 
Constantinople,  I  do  not  see  how  I  can  remain  a  member  of 
your  Government. 

On   receiving  this  letter  Lord  Aberdeen  wrote  to  Sir 

James  Graham  : 

I  fear  I  must  renounce  the  sanguine  view  I  have  hitherto 
taken  of  the  Eastern  Question  ;  for  nothing  can  be  more  alarm- 
ing than  the  present  prospect.  I  thought  that  we  should  have 
been  able  to  conquer  Stratford,  but  I  begin  to  fear  that  the 
reverse  will  be  the  case,  and  that  he  will  succeed  in  defeating 


LETTER  TO  SIR  JAMES   GRAHAM  27 1 

us  all.  .  .  .  Although  at  our  wits'  end,  Clarendon  and  I  are  still 
labouring  in  the  cause  of  peace  ;  but  really  to  contend  at  once 
with  the  pride  of  the  Emperor,  the  fanaticism  of  the  Turks, 
and  the  dishonesty  of  Stratford  is  almost  a  hopeless  attempt. 
In  the  meantime,  we  have  had  some  very  curious  domestic 
incidents,  which  to  me  are  very  significant.  Very  recently. 
Clarendon  and  I  agreed  to  make  a  proposal  to  the  Conference 
at  Vienna,  with  the  view  of  obtaining  a  declaration  of  the  Four 
Powers.  This  was  in  substance  communicated  to  Lord  John 
both  by  Clarendon  and  by  me.  He  partly  misunderstood  us 
both,  but  he  wrote  Clarendon  a  very  strong  letter,  and  spoke 
of  the  disgrace  attending  the  proposal.  He  added,  that 
Clarendon  must  not  be  surprised  if,  in  the  event  of  its  being 
carried  into  effect,  he  must  decline  to  be  a  party  to  it.  To 
me  he  wrote  in  more  civil  terms,  but  said,  if  the  proposal 
should  be  adopted,  he  could  no  longer  remain  a  member  of  my 
Government.  Now  the  comical  part  of  this  affair  is  that  we 
caught  Palmerston  on  his  way  to  Balmoral,  and  the  proposal 
which  has  so  much  excited  Lord  John's  indignation  not  only 
had  Palmerston's  concurrence,  but  was  in  great  part  his  own 
work !  Clarendon  has  been  greatly  annoyed,  and  has  written 
very  strongly  to  Lord  John.  I  shall  only  laugh  at  him  a  little. 
But  I  told  you  it  was  significant ;  and  it  seems  to  me  pretty 
clear  that  Lord  John  is  determined  to  go.  It  is  probable  that, 
on  reflection,  he  found  the  intention  of  leaving  a  Government 
with  whom  he  entirely  agreed,  and  a  place  which,  however 
exceptional,  was  of  his  own  making,  would  put  him  in  a 
ridiculous  point  of  view,  and  was  in  fact  an  untenable  position. 
It  was  therefore  necessary  to  have  some  ground  of  difference, 
and  the  Turkish  affair  presented  one  out  of  which  some  capital 
might  be  made  into  the  bargain.  He  has  made  a  bad  hit  this 
time,  but  he  may  be  more  successful  on  the  next  occasion.  .  .  . 
This  Eastern  Question  affects  my  own  position  a  good  deal. 
Of  course  I  never  took  it  into  my  calculation,  and  concluded 
that  it  would  be  settled  some  way  or  other,  long  before  it  was 
necessary  for  me  to  act.  This  may  still  be  the  case  ;  and  if  so, 
I  should  have  no  difficulty ;  but  I  should  not  like  to  have  the 
appearance  of  running  away  from  an  unfinished  question  of 
great  importance  and  of  a  most  complicated  description. 
Personally,  I  had  much  rather  that  Lord  John  should  break  up 
the  Government  by  some  such  decision  as  that  which  he  has 
already  announced.  But  then  what  is  to  follow  ?  How  I  wish 
that  you  were  here  !  However,  no  immediate  decision  is 
necessary,  and  we  shall  have  time  to  reflect,  if  not  to  consult, 
before  we  act.  My  intercourse  with  Clarendon  is  most  satis- 
factory and  confidential.  He  is  a  little  too  much  afraid  of  the 
public  and  the  press,  but  all  his  views  are  sound.  Nothing  can 
be  more  cordial  than  our  footing,  which  is  a  great  comfort. 


272  LORD   ABERDEEN 

And  on  October  4th  he  wrote  of  the  Cabinet  to  be  held 
that  afternoon  : 

It  will  be  proposed  by  Lord  John,  and  I  believe  by  Palmer- 
ston,  to  engage  as  auxiliaries  on  the  side  of  Turkey,  but  not  as 
principals  in  the  war.  It  will  be  very  difficult  to  establish  a 
distinction  of  this  kind,  and  in  our  position  I  should  think 
impossible.  I  should  much  doubt  if  the  law  of  nations  would 
allow  of  such  a  position  as  he  would  propose  to  take  up.  The 
practical  question  will  be  war  or  peace  ;  any  other  course  will 
not  be  intelligible.  ...  I  shall  be  ver^^  glad  to  hear  from  you 
to-morrow  on  the  subject  of  our  domestic  affairs.  But  in 
truth  these  are  now  comparatively  of  little  importance,  and  the 
whole  affair  has  assumed  an  entirely  new  character.  I  cannot 
entertain  a  doubt  that  Lord  John  will  seek,  and  of  course  will 
find,  an  opportunity  of  breaking  off  on  a  popular  ground  instead 
of  on  one  ridiculously  untenable.  Palmerston  most  undoubtedly 
will  do  the  same.  Indeed,  I  feel  that  very  possibly  I  may  stand 
alone.     I  am  almost  inclined  to  hope  so. 

Far  from  'standing  alone,'  however,  Lord  Aberdeen 
found,  when  the  proposition  was  made,  that  most  of 
Lord  John  Russell's  friends  in  .  the  Cabinet,  Lord  Gran- 
ville, Sir  Charles  Wood,  etc.,  joined  in  its  reprobation, 
and  were  as  decidedly  pacific  in  their  views  as  Lord 
Aberdeen  himself.  In  these  circumstances  it  was  clear 
that,  though  Lord  John  might  be  able  to  upset  the  existing 
Government,  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  construct 
a  new  one  out  of  its  ruins.  The  proposition,  therefore, 
which  was  brought  forward  by  Lord  Palmerston,  received 
only  a  perfunctory  support  from  Lord  John,  and  was 
without  difficulty  abandoned  by  him. 

Another  suggestion  made  by  Lord  John  was  that  Parlia- 
ment should  meet  early  in  November,  to  which  Lord  Aber- 
deen was  willing  to  agree,  but  the  Cabinet  generally  was  not. 
Petty  but  vexatious  questions  also  arose  as  to  patronage,  as 
to  which  Lord  Aberdeen  almost  always  did  what  Lord  John 
Russell  desired ;  without,  however,  at  all  succeeding  in 
satisfying  him. 


LORD  PALMERSTON  AND  REFORM     2/3 

For  a  short  time,  however,  it  appeared  hkely  that  a  cor- 
dial good  understanding  would  be  restored  between  Lord 
Aberdeen  and  Lord  John,  and  that  they  would  act  together 
in  strict  accord.  Lord  Palmerston  intimated  to  Lord  Aber- 
deen that  he  strongly  objected  to  the  measure  of  Parliamen- 
tary reform  of  which  the  principle  had  been  accepted  by  the 
Cabinet.  Lord  Aberdeen  and  Lord  John  both  considered 
that,  this  being  so.  Lord  Palmerston  ought  not  to  continue 
a  member  of  the  Government;  and  after  coming  to  a  thorough 
understanding  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued  towards 
Russia  and  Turkey,  a  letter,  which  was  virtually  one  of 
dismissal,  was  prepared  by  Lord  Aberdeen,  in  concert  with 
Lord  John,  Lord  Clarendon,  and  Sir  James  Graham,  and 
sent  to  Lord  Palmerston.  He  resigned,  but  was  brought 
back  to  the  Cabinet  by  a  very  singular  agency.  The  Duke 
of  Newcastle  and  another  member  of  the  Cabinet  set  them- 
selves to  work  to  induce  him  to  recall  his  resignation  ;  both 
agreeing  at  that  time  in  distrust  of  Lord  John  Russell,  but 
in  other  respects  actuated  by  different  motives  :  for  the 
Duke,  like  Lord  Palmerston,  desired  that  strong  measures 
should  be  taken  against  Russia,  which  his  colleague  did  not ; 
and  the  latter  felt  then  some  sympathy  with  Lord  Palmerston 
as  to  Parliamentary  reform,  while  the  Duke  was  an  ardent 
reformer.  Lord  Aberdeen  and  Lord  John  refused  to  allow 
any  overtures  to  be  made  to  Lord  Palmerston,  although 
they  could  not  decline  to  consider  an  unconditional  request 
from  him  to  be  allowed  to  withdraw  his  resignation.  Such 
a  request  he  was  induced  to  make,  moved,  no  doubt,  by  the 
news  of  the  battle  of  Sinope,  which  had  by  this  time  been 
received.  The  fair  prospect  of  the  continuance  of  peace 
which  had  rejoiced  Lord  Aberdeen  on  December  loth  had 
before  the  22nd  of  that  month  wholly  vanished.  The 
Cabinet,  as  a  whole,  had  become  less  indisposed  to  active 

T 


274  LORD  ABERDEEN 

operations  against  Russia  ;  Lord  Palmerston  was  again  in 
office  ;  and  Lord  John  was  now  less  than  ever  disposed  to 
listen  to  peaceful  counsels,  though  for  a  short  time  he  dis- 
played more  cordiality  towards  Lord  Aberdeen,  with  whom 
in  the  matter  of  Lord  Palmerston  he  had  been  in  full  accord. 
They  repelled  in  concert,  and  with  complete  success,  at  the 
opening  of  the  session,  the  absurd  and  offensive  attacks  made 
on  Prince  Albert ;  and  Lord  John  received  from  Lord  Aber- 
deen a  steadier  support  on  the  Reform  question  than  from 
any  other  colleague.  Of  this  Lord  John  was  very  sensible ; 
and  when  the  Bill  was  finally  withdrawn,  he  wrote  to  the 
Queen,  that  '  Lord  Aberdeen  alone  had  shown  any  regard 
for  the  honour  of  the  Government.' 

The  intimate  counsellors  of  Lord  John  were  all  eager 
for  the  postponement  of  the  Reform  Bill,  a  course  to  which 
he  was  himself  strongly  averse ;  and  consequently,  during 
the  discussions  on  that  subject,  they  did  not  exercise  over 
him  their  accustomed  influence.  The  result  was  seen  in 
greater  mutual  confidence  between  him  and  Lord  Aberdeen, 
whose  '  personal  kindness  to '  Lord  John,  as  well  as  '  the 
sense  of  justice  and  honour  which  guided  him  on  all  occa- 
sions,' were  warmly  acknowledged. 

To  the  postponement  or  withdrawal  of  the  Reform  Bill 

Lord  Aberdeen  was  strongly  opposed.     On  February  26th 

he  wrote  to  Lord  John  : 

I  have  never  been  a  great  Parliamentary  reformer,  but 
having  conscientiously  adopted  the  principle  of  reform,  and 
believing  that  the  present  measure  is  perfectly  safe,  and  likely 
to  be  generally  advantageous,  I  am  clearly  of  opinion  that 
we  ought  not  to  give  way  to  a  combination  of  persons,  many  of 
whom  we  believe  to  be  prompted  by  very  questionable  motives. 
Should  we  postpone  the  Bill,  it  would  be  a  virtual  defeat,  and 
we  shall  not  be  long  in  experiencing  its  effects. 

The  second  reading  of  the  Bill  was,  however,  postponed  ; 
and  when  the  date  to  which  it  had  been  put  off  approached, 


THE  REFORM  BILL  OF    1854  275 

there  was  again  question  of  further  delay,  which  was  heartily 

desired  by  the  greater  part  of  the  Cabinet  and  the  majority 

of  Lord  John's  own  followers  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

On  this  Lord  Aberdeen  wrote  : 

Postponement  of  the  Reform  Bill  means  postponement 
during  war.  Now  I  should  not  much  object  to  postponement, 
provided  an  honest  desire  existed  to  bring  the  war  to  the 
earliest  possible  termination,  and  to  neglect  no  opportunity  of 
restoring  peace  consistently  with  honour.  The  exigencies  of 
the  country  might  justify  this,  if  coupled  with  a  pledge  to 
return  zealously  to  the  work  of  domestic  reform  as  soon  as  we 
were  relieved  from  foreign  exertions.  Instead  of  this,  we  have 
a  plan  sketched  out  of  a  thirty  years'  war,  and  even  if  we 
could  dictate  peace  at  Moscow,  we  have  the  certainty  of  our 
colleagues  undertaking  Parliamentary  reform  with  indifference 
if  not  with  reluctance.  It  was  my  opinion  that  we  should  have 
done  better  to  move  the  second  reading  of  the  Bill  on  March 
13th,  as  first  proposed.  Our  position  would  have  been  more 
clear  and  our  difficulties  less,  whatever  might  have  been  the 
result. 

Ultimately   the    Bill    was   withdrawn,   and   withdrawn 

without  being   accompanied   by  Lord   John's   resignation, 

which  had  twice  been  tendered.     That  this  was  the  case 

was,  in  the  Queen's  judgment,  owing 

to  that  great  spirit  of  fairness,  justice,  and  unflinching  single- 
ness of  purpose,  and  rare  unselfishness,  which  so  eminently 
distinguish  our  kind  and  valued  friend.  Lord  Aberdeen. 

The  withdrawal  of  the  Reform  Bill  brought  Lord  John 
great  discomfort  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  renewed 
the  influence  of  his  entourage^  which  had  for  a  moment 
been  in  abeyance.  When,  on  the  commencement  of  the 
war,  the  Secretaryship  of  State  for  War  and  Colonies  was 
divided.  Lord  John  recommended  Sir  George  Grey  for  the 
latter  post,  but  at  the  same  time  expressed  his  own  desire 
,to  assume  the  management  of  a  substantive  department 
or  to  resign.  As  it  had,  from  the  formation  of  the  Govern- 
ment, been  Lord  Aberdeen's  desire  that  Lord  John  should 
hold  oflfice,  he  was,  of  course,  well  pleased  that  he  should 

T  2 


276  LORD   ABERDEEN 

do  so,  but  was  somewhat  disturbed  by  Lord  John's  choice 
of  a  post — that  of  Lord  President  of  the  Council.  Since 
the  days  of  Henry  VIIL  that  office  had  invariably  been 
held  by  a  peer  ;  and  not  only  would  Lord  John's  appoint- 
ment be  contrary  to  all  precedent,  but  it  would  involve 
various  other  shiftings  of  offices,  naturally  giving  umbrage 
to  those  who  held  them.  He  endeavoured  in  vain 
to  induce  Lord  John  himself  to  take  the  Colonies,  and 
he  felt  that  there  was  a  want  of  consideration  shown,  in 
making  him  the  unwilling  instrument  of  depriving  friends 
of  Lord  John  of  posts  to  which  they  had  been  appointed 
at  his  instance. 

You  must  recollect  (he  wrote)  that  I  am  not  in  the  situation 
of  a  minister  who  has  formed  his  Government  exclusively  from 
his  own  friends,  and  who  can  therefore  with  less  difficulty 
make  to  them  such  suggestions  as  he  thinks  best.  It  is  only 
reasonable  that  people  who  fill  offices  at  your  own  suggestion 
should  feel  that  you  are  equally  concerned  in  any  change  which 
may  be  proposed  to  them. 

But  though  every  wish  of  Lord  John  had  been  complied 
with,  and  many  made  discontented  to  satisfy  what  might 
almost  be  called  a  whim.  Lord  John  again,  in  three  weeks 
after  his  appointment  as  Lord  President,  tendered  his 
resignation,  on  the  ground  that,  as  he  had  failed  in  con- 
ducting the  Government  business  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
where  the  Government  had  sustained  a  series  of  petty  but 
irritating  defeats,  while  Lord  Aberdeen  had  been  eminently 
successful  in  the  House  of  Lords,  he  ought  to  relieve  him 
of  his  association. 

Mention  has  been  made  in  the  preceding  chapter,  page 
259,  of  the  offence  given  by  the  judicial  tone  adopted  by 
Lord  Aberdeen  in  speaking  of  the  war  and  its  objects.  While 
the  irritation  caused  by  that  speech  was  at  its  height,  some 
of  Lord  John's  constituents  in  the  City  sent  a  requisition 


IMPATIENCE   OF   LORD  JOHN  277 

to  the  Lord  Mayor  to  convene  a  public  meeting,  to  thank 
Lord  John  for  his  patriotic  speeches  and  to  censure  Lord 
Aberdeen.  Of  this  meeting  Lord  John  seems  to  have 
expressed  no  disapproval,  but  sent  to  Lord  Aberdeen  a 
copy  of  the  requisition,  a  step  which  reminded  more  than 
one  person  of  the  famous  '  praescript '  by  which  Canning 
sought  to  scare  Addington  from  the  Treasury.  The  highly 
successful  speech  made  by  Lord  Aberdeen  a  few  days  later 
in  the  House  of  Lords  rendered  the  attempt  at  censure  a 
ridiculous  failure,  but  from  that  time  forward  the  efforts 
of  a  portion  of  Lord  John's  friends  out  of  office  to  substi- 
tute him  for  Lord  Aberdeen  as  head  of  the  Government, 
and  themselves  for  the  Peelite  members  of  the  Administra- 
tion, were  all  but  unconcealed.  Lord  Aberdeen  acquitted 
Lord  John  of  personal  participation  in  these  intrigues  '  to 
trip  up  his  heels,'  but  he  could  not  perceive  that  they 
were  discouraged  by  Lord  John  in  the  manner  which  loyalty 
as  a  colleague  required.  Nor  was  he  alone  in  this  feeling. 
It  was  as  warmly  shared  by  the  old  Whig  members  of  the 
Government  as  by  any  others.  And  Lord  John  was  plainly 
told  by  Lord  Clarendon,  that  if  he  should  succeed  in 
removing  Lord  Aberdeen  from  office,  and  be  himself  called 
on  to  fill  his  place,  there  was  now  not  a  single  member  of 
the  existing  Cabinet  who  would  consent  to  take  part  in 
any  Administration  he  might  form. 

As  the  year  went  on,  Lord  John  became  more  and  more 
impatient  and  restless.  A  rupture  with  Lord  Aberdeen, 
in  which  the  latter  had  the  sympathy  of  the  greater  part 
of  the  Cabinet,  though  it  might  ensure  the  fall  of  the 
Government,  was  by  no  means  certain  or  even  likely  to  lead 
to  Lord  John's  own  accession  to  power,  whilst,  if  the  change 
was  effected  by  Parliamentary  vote,  it  would  probably  bring 
Lord  Derby  into  office. 


278  LORD  ABERDEEN 

Shortly  after  his  return  to  town  in  November,  Lord  John 
wrote  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  suggesting  the  removal  of  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle  from  the  War  Office  and  the  substitution 
of  Lord  Palmerston.  Lord  Aberdeen  by  no  means  relished 
this  proposal.  He  underrated  Lord  Palmerston's  capacity 
for  the  office,  and  overrated  that  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle. 
He,  moreover,  dreaded  the  results  which  might  ensue  if  the 
direction  of  the  war,  the  scope  and  objects  of  which  Lord 
Palmerston  desired  to  extend,  were  committed  to  his  hands. 
But  it  may  be  doubted  whether,  as  War  Minister,  he  would 
have  exercised  more  real  influence  on  its  course ;  whilst  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  he  was  the  man  in  whose  hands  the 
public  desired  to  see  the  office.  Had  he  filled  it.  Lord 
John's  final  resignation,  if  ever  offered,  would  not  have 
produced  the  effects  which  actually  resulted  from  it. 

On  the  whole,  Lord  Aberdeen  concluded  that  no 
such  public  advantage  was  likely  to  result  from  the 
change  as  to  justify  the  removal  of  the  Duke  from  a 
position  in  which,  if  he  had  shown  no  brilliant  qualities 
and  achieved  no  striking  success,  he  could  not  be  said  to 
have  failed.  Lord  John  ended  the  correspondence  by 
saying  that  he  should  bring  the  proposal  before  the  Cabinet. 
This,  however,  he  did  not  do,  having  in  the  interval  before 
its  meeting  ascertained  that  he  would  receive  no  support 
from  any  of  its  members.  But  he  intimated  that,  unless  he 
were  himself  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Government,  he 
intended  to  retire  from  the  Cabinet  on  the  close  of  the 
short  session  then  commencing.  When,  however,  on 
December  i6th,  the  Cabinet  met  to  prepare  and  discuss 
measures  to  be  introduced  into  Parliament  in  the  regular 
session  of  1855,  Lord  John  Russell  took  an  active  part  in 
the  discussion.  Lord  Aberdeen  had  been  previously  made 
aware,  although  not  by  himself,  of  the  change  which  had 


THE   KENNEDY  QUESTION  279 

taken  place  in  Lord  John's  intentions.  After  the  meeting 
of  the  Cabinet,  Lord  John  came  to  Lord  Aberdeen  and 
spoke  of  a  matter  of  comparatively  trivial  importance,  but 
did  not  seem  disposed  to  advert  to  any  other  subject. 
Lord  Aberdeen  therefore  took  an  opportunity  of  referring 
to  the  correspondence  which  had  taken  place,  and  the 
'  notice  to  quit '  which  had  been  given  by  Lord  John. 
Without  any  embarrassment  or  apparent  sense  of  incon- 
sistency, he  at  once  admitted  that  he  had  changed  his 
intention. 

Meanwhile,  another  ground  of  difference  suggested 
itself,  on  which  there  was  really  a  fair  prospect  that  Lord 
John's  old  friends  would  side  with  him,  and  Lord  Aberdeen 
and  the  Peelites  be  left  in  a  minority.  In  the  month  of 
May,  Mr.  Gladstone  had  rather  hastily  dismissed  the  Right 
Honourable  P.  Kennedy  from  the  post  he  held  in  the  office 
of  Woods  and  Forests.  Technically,  this  dismissal  was  the 
act  of  '  the  Treasury,'  i.e.  of  the  Prime  Minister ;  practi- 
cally, it  was  that  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
alone. 

Into  the  merits  of  this  purely  personal  question,  in  which 
Lord  John  (who  had  at  first  acquiesced  in  his  dismissal) 
ultimately  took  Mr.  Kennedy's  part  so  warmly  as  for  some 
time  to  make  a  rupture  upon  it  probable,  it  is  unnecessary 
to  enter.  Lord  Aberdeen  did  not  deny  Mr,  Kennedy's 
honour  and  integrity,  and  might  perhaps,  had  he  been  con- 
sulted, have  seen  his  way  to  some  other  course  than  that 
actually  taken  ;  but  he  was  not  prepared  to  allow  that  Mr. 
Gladstone  had  acted  without  sufficient  cause.  Notice  was 
given  by  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  before  the 
close  of  the  session  of  1854,  that  he  would  in  the  following 
year  move  for  a  Committee  of  Inquiry  into  this  subject  ; 
and  there  were  differences  of  opinion,  which  did  not  appear 


280  LORD   ABERDEEN 

likely  to  be  removed,  as  to  the  manner  in  which  such  a 
motion  ought  to  be  met.  Finally,  as  correspondence 
seemed  ineffectual,  Lord  Aberdeen  suggested  that  it  would 
be  better  to  wait  until  Mr.  Gladstone  came  to  town,  and 
that  then,  if  they  three  could  not  agree  upon  a  course  to 
be  pursued,  the  matter  must  go  before  the  Cabinet.  Lord 
John  replied  curtly  that  '  he  must  decline  to  submit  to  the 
decision  of  the  Cabinet  on  questions  regarding  his  personal 
honour.' 

The  projected  conference  was  postponed  in  consequence 
of  a  sudden  journey  of  Lord  John  to  Paris,  nor  was  the 
question  ever  brought  before  the  Cabinet.  As  a  cause  of 
quarrel  it  might  have  had  its  attractions.  It  would  have 
involved  no  Parliamentary  vote  of  censure,  affecting  the 
whole  Government,  whilst  it  would  have  necessitated  the 
retirement  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  Mr.  Gladstone,  the  Duke  of 
Newcastle,  and  Sir  James  Graham,  whose  places  might  have 
been  filled  by  Whigs.  But  it  was  urged  on  Lord  John  by 
some  of  his  friends,  and  that  strongly,  that  his  resignation 
on  such  a  ground  would  be  attended  with  ridicule,  and  that 
at  a  grave  public  crisis  it  would  be  felt  that  he  did  wrong  in 
giving  prominence  to  petty  personal  questions,  in  which  no 
great  interest  or  principle  was  involved. 

There  were  some  who  thought  that  the  permission  which 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  had  obtained  from  Lord 
Aberdeen  for  a  session  of  Convocation  might  lead  to  an 
irreconcilable  difference  ;  but  the  storm  seemed  for  the 
moment,  at  all  events,  to  have  blown  over;  and  Lord 
Clarendon  wrote  to  Lord  Aberdeen  that  he  'had  not  for 
years  seen  Lord  John  in  such  good  spirits  and  good 
humour'  as  after  his  return  from  Paris  on  January  i6th. 

He  was  present  at  the  Cabinets  held  January  i6th,  i8th, 
and    20th,   and    took   an   active  part    in    the  discussion 


^DESIGNATION   OF   LORD  JOHN  28 1 

and  preparation  of  the  measures  of  the  session.  On  the  day 
before  ParHament  reassembled,  he  sent  to  Lord  Aberdeen 
the  outHne  of  some  measures  of  mihtary  reorganisation 
which  he  said  he  intended  to  propose  at  the  next  Cabinet ; 
and  after  the  House  of  Commons  had  met  he  gave  notice 
of  his  intention  to  move  at  an  early  day  the  first  reading  of 
the  Education  Bill  he  had  prepared.  He  had  distinctly 
faced  the  probability,  or  rather  the  certainty,  that  a  motion 
of  censure  would  be  proposed  ;  for  on  Lord  Aberdeen  men- 
tioning that  it  had  reached  his  ears  that  it  was  likely  to  be 
moved  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  Lord  John  congratulated  himself 
that  it  was  not  his  father  he  would  have  to  encounter.  When, 
therefore,  on  the  evening  that  Parliament  again  met,  on 
January  23rd,  Lord  John  resigned,  because  Mr.  Roebuck 
had  given  notice  of  a  vote  of  censure  which  he  did  not  feel 
able  to  resist.  Lord  Aberdeen's  sensation  was  one  of  sur- 
prise— a  surprise  to  which,  in  the  case  of  some  of  his 
colleagues,  was  for  the  moment  added  an  indignant  sus- 
picion of  deliberate  treachery. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  resignation  was  effected  at 
the  worst  possible  time,  and  in  the  worst  possible  manner 
for  Lord  John's  reputation.  Had  he  resigned  either  on  the 
failure  of  his  proposal  to  displace  the  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
or  at  Christmas,  according  to  his  original  announcement,  his 
course  might  on  public  grounds  have  been  censured,  but 
would  have  been  open  to  no  shadow  of  personal  reproach. 
But  after  the  change  of  purpose  avowed  by  him  on 
December  i6th  ;  after  taking  part  in  the  preparation  of  the 
measures  for  the  session  ;  after  contemplating  the  certainty 
that  a  vote  of  censure  would  be  proposed  ;  his  resignation, 
on  notice  of  that  vote  being  given,  without  his  having  even 
hinted  to  a  single  colleague  that  he  contemplated  such  a 
step,  assumed  another  character,  and  could  not  escape  the 


282  LORD    ABERDEEN 

charge  of  inconsiderate  levity  without  admitting  one  far 
graver. 

I  am  myself  convinced  that,  when  Lord  John  left  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  evening  of  the  23rd,  he  had  no 
formed  intention  of  resigning.  He  had  received  the  dis- 
quieting intelligence  that  many  of  his  old  followers  would 
vote  against  him,  and  doubtless  felt  this  keenly.  Disturbed 
in  his  mind  he  may  have  been  ;  but  that  he  was  acting  a 
part  when  he  gave  notice  of  the  Education  Bill,  and  when 
he  suggested  to  the  Government  whip  that  Mr.  C.  Villiers 
should  be  induced  to  move  an  amendment  to  Mr.  Roebuck's 
motion,  I  for  one  cannot  believe.  Yet  this  is  what  those 
would  have  us  suppose,  who  affect  to  regard  Lord  John's 
resignation  in  such  circumstances  as  a  step  which  had  been 
long  intended,  and  which  ought  to  have  been  foreseen. 

The  resignation  did  not,  however,  produce  exactly  the 
effect  which  Lord  John  or  his  friends  had  counted  on. 
They  had  expected  that  Lord  Aberdeen  would  at  once 
resign,  when  deprived  of  the  support  of  his  most  powerful 
colleague ;  or  that  at  all  events,  if  he  did  not  do  so,  those 
old  Whigs  who  had  been  accustomed  to  act  with  Lord 
John  would  retire  from  a  Government  of  which  he  was  no 
longer  a  member.  If  the  Cabinet  were  thus  broken  up 
before  any  Parliamentary  censure  was  inflicted  on  it.  Lord 
John  might,  it  was  thought,  be  able  to  present  himself  as 
the  head  of  a  new,  more  vigorous,  and  purely  Whig  Adminis- 
tration. On  the  morning  of  the  25th  Lord  John  was 
visited  by  Mr.  Hayter,  the  Secretary  to  the  Treasury.  He 
found  Mr.  Vernon  Smith  and  Colonel  Romilly  with  Lord 
John.  Mr.  Hayter  was  eagerly  interrogated  by  the  trio, 
and  great  disappointment  was  expressed  when  they  learned 
that  no  one  but  Lord  John  had  resigned.  As  the  day 
wore  on,  and  it  became  evident  to  Lord  John  that  no  one 


LORD  JOHN'S  RESIGNATION  283 

of  the  Cabinet  intended  to  join  him  in  deserting  Lord 
Aberdeen,  he  began  to  feel  that  he  had  made  a  mistake, 
and  that,  though  he  had  probably  ensured  the  defeat  of 
the  Government,  he  might  have  seriously  injured  himself. 
Accordingly,  on  the  evening  of  the  25th,  he  intimated  to 
Lord  Aberdeen,  through  a  common  friend,  that  he  did  not 
think  it  too  late  to  reconsider  his  ■  resignation,  if  securities 
were  given  him  as  to  the  future  conduct  of  the  war.  Such 
security  he  was  willing  to  find  in  the  appointment  of  Lord 
Palmerston  to  the  War  Office ;  which  had  in  fact  been 
resolved  on  at  an  earlier  date.  The  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
while  not,  of  course,  acquiescing  in  the  justice  of  the  popular 
discontent  with  his  administration,  was  fully  aware  of  its 
mischievous  effect  both  on  the  Government  and  on  the  con- 
duct of  the  war  itself,  and  had  determined  to  retire  after  the 
short  session  before  Christmas.  Unfortunately,  he  deferred 
doing  so  until  after  the  commencement  of  the  regular  session, 
and,  yet  more  unfortunately,  he  insisted  that  Lord  Aberdeen 
should  not  communicate  his  intention  to  his  colleagues. 
Lord  Palmerston  was  disposed  to  encourage  such  a  reconcilia- 
tion as  Lord  John  now  proposed,  but  these  overtures  were  at 
once  and  peremptorily  rejected  by  Lord  Aberdeen.  Matters 
had  in  this  instance  gone  too  far  for  repentance,  nor,  come 
what  might,  was  he  prepared  at  that  time  to  accept  Lord 
John  again  as  a  colleague.  His  first  impulse  had  been  to 
retire  from  a  contest  in  which  Lord  John's  defection  had 
rendered  defeat  all  but  certain,  but  this  intention  was  over- 
ruled by  the  Queen  and  the  Cabinet,  every  member  of 
which  desired  publicly  to  testify  his  disapproval  of  Lord 
John's  action.  It  was,  therefore,  determined  to  resist  Mr. 
Roebuck's  motion,  and  to  meet  it  with  a  direct  negative. 
The  result  depended  on  the  Conservative  vote.  Lord  Derby 
and  Mr,  Disraeli,  it  is  believed,  hesitated  for  a  moment,  but 


284  LORD   ABERDEEN 

finally  determined  to  vote  for  the  appointment  of  the  com- 
mittee, and,  with  the  Radicals  and  discontented  Whigs,  of 
course  made  up  an  overwhelming  majority  in  the  division, 
which  took  place  on  January  29th.  The  following  day  Lord 
Aberdeen  resigned. 

No  expression  of  irritation  escaped  Lord  Aberdeen 
during  this  crisis.  On  the  night  on  which  he  announced 
his  resignation  in  the  House  of  Lords,  Lord  John's  sister, 
Lady  Abercorn,  dined  with  the  family  at  Argyll  House. 
Her  relations  with  Lord  Aberdeen  were  those  of  a  daughter, 
and  she  was  full  of  distress  at  her  brother's  action.  Lord 
Aberdeen  devoted  the  whole  evening  to  reassuring  her, 
dwelling  on  all  the  noble  traits  of  Lord  John's  character, 
and  speaking  of  him  in  terms  of  ungrudging  praise,  while 
lamenting  the  weakness  and  eagerness  which  had  made 
him  in  this  instance  the  instrument  of  more  selfish  men. 
But  while  all  along  doing  justice  to  Lord  John's  personal 
honour,  and  in  the  end  believing  that  he  had  acted  from 
impulse,  Lord  Aberdeen  certainly  at  the  time  conceived  his 
overthrow  to  have  been  deliberately  planned.  Carefully 
though  he  refrained  from  allowing  any  expression  unfriendly 
to  Lord  John  to  escape  his  lips,  he  had  written  in  that  sense 
to  his  daughter-in-law  in  Egypt. 

Lord  Aberdeen  thought  that,  in  resigning  as  he  did. 
Lord  John  made  a  great  mistake  in  regard  to  his  own 
personal  interests.  In  writing  to  the  Duke  of  Bedford  in 
December  1856,  he  said  : 

You  say  that  Lord  John  thinks  he  committed  an  error  in 
leaving  my  Government  in  the  way  he  did.  It  is  certain  that 
a  different  course  might  more  probably  have  led  to  the  result  at 
which  we  both  wished  to  arrive. 

Had  he  supported  us  against  Roebuck's  motion,  or  enabled 
us  in  some  mode  to  meet  it  with  success,  this  might  have  been 
the  case.  Clarendon  and  I  had  already  spoken  about  the 
possibility  of  Lord  John  going  to  Vienna  to  negotiate  on  the 


LETTER  TO  THE  DUKE  OF  BEDFORD    285 

*  Four  Points,'  and  if  I  had  remained  at  the  head  of  the 
Government  I  can  have  Httle  doubt  that  peace  would  have 
been  made.  Had  the  peace  been  confirmed,  I  might  then 
have  irresistibly  pressed  my  proposed  retirement  in  his  favour ; 
or  if  the  peace  had  been  censured,  the  Government  would  at 
least  have  fallen  in  a  cause  of  which  I  should  have  felt  proud 
to  the  end  of  my  days.  Instead  of  this  euthanasia,  however,  I 
was  ignominiously  overthrown  in  consequence  of  Lord  John's 
decision. 

Although  I  do  not  deny  that  I  may  have  felt  some  reason 
to  complain,  this  step  was  much  more  warmly  resented  by  my 
friends  than  by  myself,  for  in  truth  it  made  little  or  no  change 
in  my  feelings  towards  Lord  John.  Knowing  what  he  did,  it 
seemed  to  me  not  unnatural  that  he  might  think  me  too  slow 
and  undecided  in  giving  effect  to  my  intentions  ;  for  I  will  not 
do  him  the  injustice  of  supposing  that  he  ever  for  a  moment 
doubted  my  sincerity.  It  is  possible,  too,  that,  although  I  am 
convinced  he  entered  into  the  Government  from  the  most 
generous  and  high-minded  motives,  he  may  have  found  him- 
self in  a  somewhat  false  position,  and  that  he  may  have  mis- 
calculated his  powers  of  enduring  this  position  with  equanimity 
for  any  length  of  time. 

But,  however  this  step  may  have  been  regarded  by  my 
friends  at  the  moment,  I  trust  that,  seeing  how  little  I  have  felt 
it  myself,  and  looking  to  subsequent  events,  all  asperity  of  feeling 
is  now  entirely  at  an  end. 

It  gives  me  the  greatest  satisfaction  to  be  informed  by  you 
of  the  good  opinion  and  friendly  feelings  of  Lord  John.  I  can 
truly  say  that  my  conscience  tells  me  that  I  have  done  my  best 
to  deserve  them.  I  know  that  he  has  sometimes  complained  of 
my  want  of  confidence  in  him  ;  but  for  this  there  never  was  any 
real  foundation.  Any  appearance  of  the  kind  was  entirely  the 
effect  of  accident,  and  never  of  intention.  I  may  perhaps 
myself  have  thought  Lord  John  over-sensitive,  or  sometimes 
rash  or  impracticable.  But  these  are  trifles.  We  parted  with 
expressions  of  mutual  regard,  M^hich  on  my  side  were  perfectly 
sincere,  as  I  have  no  doubt  they  were  on  his.  These  expressions 
I  am  happy  in  having  this  opportunity  to  renew ;  as  well  as, 
with  my  admiration  of  his  great  powers  and  noble  impulses,  to 
assure  you  that  I  shall  always  feel  a  warm  interest  in  his  reputa- 
tion and  honour. 

I  have  written  this  chapter  with  reluctance,  and  not 
without  pain.  The  characters  of  our  great  men  are 
national  possessions,  and  the  exhibition  of  their  weak- 
nesses and  failings,  even  when  it  is  necessary,  is  to  be 
deplored.      Lord  John   Russell's   character,   as   a    whole, 


286  LORD  ABERDEEN 

Stands  too  high  to  be  greatly  injured  by  the  temporary 
waywardness  and  impatience  which  under  trying  circum- 
stances he  displayed.  But  truth,  if  told  at  all,  must  be  told 
plainly ;  and  justice  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  whose  exemplary 
patience  was  never  more  severely  tried  than  during  these 
two  years,  requires  that  it  should  be  so.  That  Lord  John 
should  have  found  it  difficult  to  sustain  the  position  he 
himself  of  his  own  choice  assumed  is  not  surprising ;  that 
he  should  have  been  eager  to  direct  the  war,  and  think 
he  could  do  so  better  than  anyone  else,  is  in  keeping 
with  his  character ;  that,  so  thinking,  he  should  have 
been  impatient  to  realise  what  he  thought  for  the  public 
advantage,  is  pardonable.  But  Lord  Aberdeen  felt  that 
his  own  desire  to  arrive  at  the  end  which  Lord  John 
sought  should  have  been  more  fully  trusted.  He  had 
spontaneously  expressed  his  wish  to  see  Lord  John  in  his 
place,  and  his  determination  to  effect  the  change  when 
possible.  He  was  sure  that  Lord  John  knew  him  to  be 
sincere,  and  thought  that  not  only  Lord  John's  personal 
dignity,  but  his  interests  also,  would  have  been  better 
consulted  by  a  generous  confidence,  than  by  a  continual 
display  of  restless  dissatisfaction.  In  the  attitude  which  he 
assumed.  Lord  John  could  hardly  expect  to  receive  from 
Lord  Aberdeen  such  cordial  confidence  as  that  reposed  in 
Lord  Clarendon  and  Sir  James  Graham.  But  it  is  emi- 
nently characteristic  of  Lord  Aberdeen  that,  in  spite  of 
provocation,  he  steadily  maintained  that  Lord  John  was 
the  proper  head  of  the  Liberal  party,  and  never  ceased  to 
desire  that  he  should  succeed  him  as  Prime  Minister. 


287 


CHAPTER   XI 

CLOSING   YEARS  :    1855-1860 

Lord  Aberdeen  assists  in  the  Formation  of  Lord  Palmerston's  Govern- 
ment—Letter to  Sidney  Herbert — Is  made  a  Knight  of  the  Garter  — 
Letter  from  the  Queen — Letter  from  Mr.  Gladstone — Lord  John 
and  the  Vienna  Negotiations — Domestic  Life — Visit  from  the 
Queen — Illness  and  Death — Mr.  Gladstone's  Estimate  of  Lord 
Aberdeen— General  Sketch  of  Character. 

On  Lord  Aberdeen's  resignation,  Lord  Derby,  whose  ad- 
herents formed  the  bulk  of  the  majority  by  which  Mr. 
Roebuck's  motion  had  been  adopted,  was  sent  for  by  the 
Queen.  He  failed  to  form  an  Administration,  as  did  also 
Lord  Lansdowne,  who  was  next  asked  to  undertake  the 
task.  Then  at  length  Lord  John  Russell,  of  whose  friends, 
next  to  those  of  Lord  Derby,  the  majority  was  most  largely 
composed,  received  that  summons  which  for  the  past  two 
years  he  had  so  anxiously  desired.  He  accepted  with 
alacrity  Her  Majesty's  commission.  Lord  Palmerston  ex- 
pressed willingness  to  serve  under  him,  as  he  already  had, 
on  certain  conditions,  to  serve  under  Lord  Derby  or  Lord 
Lansdowne.  It  may  without  want  of  charity  be  assumed 
that  in  so  doing  Lord  Palmerston  foresaw,  that  in  neither 
case  was  the  attempt  to  form  a  Government  likely  to  succeed, 
and  that  his  own  succession  would  not  be  imperilled  by  his 
facility.  But,  with  this  exception.  Lord  John  found,  doubt- 
less to  his  great  surprise,  that  not  one  of  his  colleagues  in 
the  late  Administration  would  join  him.     That  the  Peelite 


288  LORD   ABERDEEN 

members  of  the  Government  should  refuse  to  do  so  may 
have  been  anticipated,  and  by  Lord  John's  entourage^  if  not 
by  Lord  John  himself,  was  not  regretted  ;  but  the  replies 
he  received  from  other  quarters  were  as  unexpected  by  him 
as  they  were  unwelcome.  Lord  Clarendon  refused  to  give 
any  answer  '  till  he  had  consulted  the  head  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  which  he  was  lately  a  member.'  The  Duke  of  Argyll 
bluntly  declined  Lord  John's  invitation  to  call  on  him. 
Lord  Lansdowne  gravely  regretted  that  it  was  impossible  to 
assist  him.  Above  all,  that  his  old  and  tried  friend  Sir 
George  Grey  should  refuse  to  serve  under  him,  avowedly 
because  he  disapproved  of  his  late  conduct,  must  have  been 
felt  as  a  heavy  blow.  Lord  Panmure  and  Mr.  Vernon 
Smith  were  indeed  ready  and  eager  to  join  him,  but  Lord 
John  no  doubt  knew  that  a  Cabinet  in  which  they  filled 
the  leading  parts  could  hardly  at  such  a  time  anticipate 
success.  After  forty-eight  hours  of  humiliation,  than  which 
those  who  felt  his  recent  action  most  keenly  could  hardly 
have  desired  for  him  a  severer  punishment,  he  resigned  the 
attempt  to  construct  a  Government,  nor  did  he  ever  again, 
except  for  a  few  months,  more  than  ten  years  later,  fill  the 
post  that  he  had  coveted.  It  was  on  Lord  Palmerston  that 
the  formation  of  a  Government  now  devolved.  The  popular 
voice  had  from  the  first  called  for  his  selection,  and  after  the 
failure  of  Lord  Derby,  Lord  Lansdowne,  and  Lord  John 
Russell,  no  other  arrangement  appeared  practicable.  Lord 
Aberdeen  therefore  exerted  himself  to  ensure  its  success. 
Notwithstanding  his  strongly-expressed  advice,  however,  his 
immediate  friends  resolved  to  decline  Lord  Palmerston's 
overtures.  One  of  their  number,  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert, 
though  he  would  not  separate  himself  from  those  with  whom 
he  had  always  acted,  acquiesced  but  reluctantly  in  this 
decision.     He  wrote  to  Lord  Aberdeen  the  same  evening, 


LETTER  TO   SIDNEY   HERBERT  289 

to  express  his  doubts  whether  the   refusal  was,  on  pubHc 

grounds,  justifiable,  and  begged  that  Lord  Aberdeen  would 

himself  join  the  new  Government,  which  would  enable  his 

friends  to  do  so  with  security.     Lord  Aberdeen  replied  as 

follows  : 

Argyll  House  :  February  6,  1855. 

My  dear  Herbert, — I  received  your  letter  too  late  to  answer 
it  last  night.     In  fact,  I  had  gone  to  bed. 

You  say  you  are  in  a  great  difficulty  as  to  the  course  you 
ought  to  take.     I  am  in  none  whatever. 

I  gave  you  my  decided  opinion  yesterday  that  you  ought  to 
continue  in  Palmerston's  Administration  ;  and  I  endeavoured 
to  support  this  opinion  by  the  very  arguments  which  you 
repeat  in  your  letter  to  me.  Surely  this  letter  ought  to  have 
been  addressed  to  Gladstone  and  Graham,  and  not  to  me.  I 
fully  concur  in  thinking  that  you  came  to  a  wrong  decision 
yesterday,  and  I  would  fain  hope  that  it  might  still  be  reversed. 
When  you  sent  to  me  yesterday  to  attend  your  meeting,  I 
certainly  hoped  it  was  with  the  intention  of  following  my 
advice. 

Your  reluctance  to  continue  in  Palmerston's  Cabinet  is 
mainly  founded  on  the  apprehension  that  he  would  pursue  a 
warlike  policy  beyond  reasonable  bounds.  I  have  already  told 
you  that  I  have  had  some  explanation  with  him  on  the  terms 
of  peace,  with  which  I  am  satisfied.  But  whatever  may  be  his 
inclinations,  you  ought  to  rely  on  the  weight  of  your  own 
character  and  opinions  in  the  Cabinet.  I  am  persuaded  that 
the  sentiments  of  the  great  majority  of  the  members  of  the 
Cabinet  are  similar  to  your  own,  and  that  you  may  fairly 
expect  reason  and  sound  policy  to  prevail  in  the  question  of 
peace  and  war.  But,  above  all,  I  have  recently  had  some  very 
full  conversations  with  Clarendon  on  this  subject,  and  I  am 
entirely  satisfied  with  his  disposition  and  intentions.  I  am 
sanguine  in  the  belief  that  he  will  give  effect  to  his  present 
views. 

A  perseverance  in  the  refusal  to  join  Palmerston  will 
produce  very  serious  effects,  and  will  never  be  attributed  to  its 
true  cause.  The  public  feeling  will  be  strongly  pronounced 
against  you,  and  you  will  greatly  suffer  in  reputation  if  you 
persevere,  at  such  a  moment  as  this,  in  refusing  to  continue  in 
the  Cabinet.  In  addition  to  the  public  necessity,  I  think  you 
owe  much  to  our  late  Whig  colleagues,  who  behaved  so  nobly 
and  generously  towards  us  after  Lord  John's  resignation.  They 
have  some  right  to  expect  this  sacrifice. 

Although  your  arguments  do  not  apply  to  me,  for  I  yester- 
day adopted  them  all,  you  conclude  your  letter  by  pressing  me 

U 


290  LORD  ABERDEEN 

to  enter  the  Cabinet.  Now  there  is  really  no  sense  in  this  ; 
and  I  cannot  imagine  how  you  could  seriously  propose  it.  You 
would  expose  me  to  gratuitous  indignity,  to  which  no  one 
ought  to  expect  me  to  submit.  I  say  gratuitous  ;  for  I  could 
not  be  of  the  slightest  use  in  such  a  situation  for  the  purpose 
you  require.  I  can  retire  with  perfect  equanimity  from  the 
Government  in  consequence  of  the  vote  of  the  House  of 
Commons  ;  but  to  be  stigmatised  as  the  head,  and  tolerated  as 
a  subordinate  member,  I  cannot  endure.  If  at  any  future  time 
my  presence  should  ever  be  required  in  a  Cabinet,  I  should  feel 
no  objection  to  accept  any  office,  or  to  enter  it  without  an  office. 
But  to  be  the  head  of  a  Cabinet  to-day,  and  become  a  sub- 
ordinate member  of  the  very  same  Cabinet  to-morrow,  would 
be  a  degradation  to  which  I  could  never  submit.  I  tell  you 
plainly  that  I  would  rather  die  than  do  so  ;  and,  indeed,  the 
sense  of  it  would  go  far  to  kill  me. 

If  you  tell  me  that  your  retaining  your  present  offices, 
without  the  slightest  sacrifice,  but,  on  the  contrary,  with  the 
approbation  of  all,  is  in  any  degree  to  depend  on  my  taking 
such  a  course,  I  can  only  say  that,  as  friends,  I  cannot  believe 
it  possible  that  you  should  be  guilty  of  such  mere  wanton 
cruelty  without  any  rational  object. 

I  must  then  earnestly  exhort  you  to  reconsider  the  decision 
of  yesterday,  and  to  continue  to  form  part  of  the  Government. 
I  will  do  anything  in  my  power  to  facilitate  this.  If  you 
like,  I  will  go  to  Palmerston,  and  promote  any  explanation 
between  him  and  Gladstone  on  the  subject  of  peace  and 
war.  Or  I  will  tell  him  that  you  have  yielded  to  my  strong 
recommendation.  In  short,  I  am  ready  to  do  anything  in  my 
power. 

I  wish  you  to  show  this  letter  to  Gladstone  and  to  Graham, 
to  whom,  as  you  will  see,  it  is  addressed  as  much  as  to  your- 
self. 

Thanks  to  his  disinterested  efforts,  which  were  most 
warmly  and  handsomely  acknowledged  by  Lord  Palmerston, 
the  reluctance  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  friends  to  serve  under 
Lord  Palmerston  was  overcome,  and  the  new  Administra- 
tion formed. 

At  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the  short  session  of  Parlia- 
ment in  December,  the  Queen  had,  in  the  most  gracious 
manner,  and  as  a  mark  of  her  especial  favour  and  support, 
conferred  on  Lord  Aberdeen  the  vacant  ribbon  of  the 
Garter.     By  a   strange   coincidence    his   installation   as   a 


THE  QUEEN'S   FAREWELL  29 1 

knight  was  fixed  for  the  day  on  which  Lord  Pahiierston's 

writ  was  moved  for   in   the    House  of  Commons,  on  his 

acceptance  of  the  office  of  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury.     In 

writing  to  Lady  Haddo  from  Windsor  that  evening,  Lord 

Aberdeen,  after  mentioning  that  the  Queen  had  expressed 

to  him  her  thankfulness  for  what  he  had  done  in  promoting 

the  formation  of  the  new  Cabinet,  said  : 

A  little  thing  showed  me  her  feelings  to-day.  I  am  come 
down  here  to  be  invested  as  a  Knight  of  the  Garter,  and  at  a 
part  of  the  ceremony  it  is  necessary  to  kiss  the  Queen's  hand. 
This,  I  need  not  say,  is  held  out  in  a  lifeless  manner  for  the 
purpose.  To  my  surprise,  when  I  took  hold  of  it  to  lift  it  to 
my  lips,  she  squeezed  my  hand  with  a  strong  and  significant 
pressure.  The  Queen  has  also  desired  that  I  should  keep  the 
Green  Ribbon,  for  which  she  finds  there  have  been  two  pre- 
cedents in  the  last  hundred  and  fifty  years.  These  are  empty 
honours,  but  they  are  proofs  of  real  regard. 

Nor  was  it  only  in  dumb  show  that  Her  Majesty's  feelings 
were  expressed.  On  Lord  Aberdeen's  arrival  at  the  Castle 
he  had  found  this  letter  awaiting  him. 

Windsor  Castle  :  February  7,  1855. 

Though  the  Queen  hopes  to  see  Lord  Aberdeen  in  a  short 
while,  she  seizes  the  opportunity  of  approving  the  appointment 
of  the  Hon.  and  Revd.  Arthur  Douglas  to  the  living  of  St. 
Olave's,  Southwark,  to  say  what  she  hardly  trusts  herself  to  do 
verbally,  without  giving  way  to  her  feelings.  She  wishes  to 
say  what  a  pang  it  is  for  her  to  separate  from  so  kind,  and 
dear,  and  valued  a  friend  as  Lord  Aberdeen  has  ever  been  to 
her  since  she  has  known  him.  The  day  he  became  her  Prime 
Minister  was  a  very  happy  one  for  her ;  and  throughout  his 
ministry  he  has  ever  been  the  kindest  and  wisest  adviser,  one 
to  whom  she  could  apply  for  advice  on  all  and  trifling 
occasions  even.  This  she  is  sure  he  will  still  ever  be — but 
the  losing  him  as  her  first  adviser  in  her  Government  is  very 
painful.  The  pain  has  been  to  a  certain  extent  lessened  by 
the  knowledge  of  all  he  has  done  to  further  the  formation  of 
this  Government  in  so  loyal,  noble,  and  disinterested  a  manner, 
and  by  his  friends  retaining  their  posts,  which  is  a  great 
security  against  any  possible  dangers. 

The  Queen  is  sure  that  the  Prince  and  herself  may  ever 
rely  on  his  valuable  support  and  advice  in  all  times  of  difficulty, 
and  she  now  concludes  with   the   expression  of  her  warmest 

u  2 


29^  LORD  ABERDEEN 

thanks  foi*  all  his  kindness  and  devotion,  as  well  as  of  her 
inalterable  friendship  and  esteem  for  him,  and  with  every  wish 
for  his  health  and  happiness. 

The  letters  of  farewell  which  he  received  from  nearly  all 
his  late  colleagues  were  equally  gratifying  ;  but  their  feelings 
towards  Lord  Aberdeen  were  perhaps  best  expressed  by 
that  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  from  which  I  am  permitted  to  make 
the  following  extract. 

February  lo,  1855. — Warned  without  ceasing,  during  the  late 
proceedings,  not  to  allow  the  remembrance  of  persons  to  weigh 
with  me,  I  was  but  too  well  schooled  into  forgetting  them  ;  and 
it  was  not  until  I  turned  my  back  to  quit  your  room,  next  door, 
on  Tuesday,  that  I  recollected  it  was  for  the  last  time,  and  be- 
came keenly  sensible  that  a  chapter  of  my  life,  in  which  arduous 
duty  and  pleasure  had  been  the  most  closely  blended,  was 
brought  at  once  and  very  painfully  to  an  end.  Since  then  I 
have  wished  to  write  to  you,  but  have  shrunk  from  the  task.  I 
feel  as  if  a  dear  friend  were  dead  ;  and  I  abhor  the  manner  in 
which  the  end  has  been  accomplished.  Even  the  unbounded 
kindness  of  your  letter  cannot  overpower  the  revulsion  with 
which  I  look  back  on  the  past  fortnight,  and  I  have  used  the 
poor  and  feeble  expedient  of  trying  to  shut  my  eyes  upon  the 
fact  I  loathed. 

I  am  thankful,  however,  that  you  have  roused  me.  When 
I  try  to  measure  our  respective  shares  of  the  last  disaster,  I 
am  glad  to  believe  they  are  not  so  unequal  as  they  seem.  We, 
who  remain  in  the  Governaient,  set  out  anew,  clothed  in  tinsel 
of  which  we  shall  soon  be  stripped.  My  loss,  indeed,  already 
suffered,  is  peculiar,  and  scarcely  to  be  told.  But  while  we 
lose,  you  will  gain  from  day  to  day.  When,  to  use  the  beau- 
tiful expression  of  the  Psalms,  '  this  tyranny  shall  be  overpast,' 
and  the  popular  mind,  recovering  its  balance,  shall  have  re- 
turned to  justice,  then  many  a  longing  eye,  of  those  now  averse, 
will  follow  you  wherever  you  may  be.  I  dearly  prize  your  fame 
and  honour  ;  so  much  of  it  as  I  can  promote  or  injure  is  to  me 
a  sacred  trust ;  and  with  this  thought  full  before  me,  I  am 
unable  to  regret  the  day  when  I  entreated  you  not  to  turn  away 
from  the  seat  of  power,  to  which  you  had  the  paramount  claim 
conferred  by  superior  wisdom  and  virtue. 

You  have  now  been  Minister  of  England  ;  you  are  one  of  a 
lofty  line  ;  but  I  reflect  with  joy  and  comfort  on  the  comparison 
your  name  will  bear  with  those  who  have  preceded  and  with 
those  who  may  follow  you.  I  do  not  agree  in  your  estimate 
of  your  services.  I  forbear  to  cite  the  Queen  against  you, 
because  you  may  ascribe  her  admirable  letter  to  the  emotions 


PEELITE   SECESSION  293 

of  so  womanly  a  heart ;  but  I  believe  the  country  is  even  now 
far  more  just  towards  you  than  you  are  yourself  And  I  have 
some  further  satisfaction  in  the  thought,  that  those  who  have 
long  acted  with  you  were  called  by  a  sense  of  public  duty  to 
gather  themselves  round  you  at  the  last,  and  to  add,  whatever 
their  faithful  and  declared  adherence  could  add,  to  the  dignity 
and  lustre  of  your  conduct. 

You  make  far  too  much  of  any  sei-vice  I  have  rendered  to 
your  Government.  I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  do  justice, 
in  return,  to  the  benefits  I  have  received  from  you.  Your  whole 
demeanour  has  been  a  living  lesson  to  me  ;  and  I  have  never 
gone,  with  my  vulnerable  temper  and  impetuous  moods,  into 
your  presence,  without  feeling  the  strong  influence  of  your  calm 
and  settled  spirit. 

For  a  short  time  Lord  Aberdeen  remained  nearly  as 
much  occupied  with  public  affairs  as  when  Prime  Minister. 
Lord  Clarendon  wrote  to  him  almost  every  day,  and  the 
discussions  of  the  Cabinet  were  freely  confided  to  him, 
as  well  as  the  letters  and  despatches  received  from  the 
Continent.  But  before  many  days,  the  Peelite  members 
of  the  Government,  who  had  with  difficulty  been  persuaded 
to  remain  in  it,  resigned.  Lord  Palmerston,  as  might  from 
the  first  have  been  easily  foreseen,  found  himself  unable 
to  procure  from  the  House  of  Commons  a  reversal  of  the 
vote  appointing  the  Committee  of  Inquiry  ;  and  Sir  James 
Graham,  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  Sidney  Herbert  found  them- 
selves unable  to  agree  with  Lord  Palmerston  in  accepting 
a  situation  which  was  in  fact  inevitable.  Lord  Aberdeen 
thought  them  wrong,  and  told  them  so  ;  but  he  was  not  in- 
clined to  make  their  remaining  in  Lord  Palmerston's  Govern- 
ment a  matter  of  personal  entreaty  on  his  part  for  a  second 
time  ;  and  though  he  disagreed  from  them,  and  approved 
of  the  Duke  of  Argyll  remaining  in  the  Cabinet,  and  of  Lord 
Canning  joining  it,  and  would  have  wished  Mr.  Cardw^ell 
to  do  the  same,  he  did  not  censure  his  other  friends  for 
forming  an  opinion  different  to  his  own.  The  removal  of 
most  of  his  more  immediate  friends  from  the  Cabinet  of 


294  LORD   ABERDEEN 

course  made  some  difference  in  the  intimacy  of  his  relations 
with  its  remaining  members ;  but  his  intercourse  with  Lord 
Clarendon  continued  to  be  close  and  confidential,  until  after 
the  rupture  of  the  negotiations  for  peace  which  were  carried 
on  by  Lord  John  Russell  at  Vienna. 

As  is  now  known,  peace  might  have  been  then  made. 
Terms  were  suggested  by  Austria,  of  which  Prince  Gort- 
chakoff  was  prepared  to  recommend  the  acceptance  to  his 
Government,  and  which  M.  Drouyn  de  I'Huys  and  Lord 
John  Russell  thought  should  be  accepted.  But  peace  on 
such  terms  would  have  been  unpalatable  in  England,  and 
they  were  rejected  by  the  Government. 

Lord  John  had,  on  the  retirement  of  the  Peelites,  been 
offered  and  had  accepted  the  Colonial  Secretaryship.  On 
his  return  from  Vienna  he  found  himself  in  a  position  which, 
in  some  respects,  was  even  more  irksome  to  him  than  that 
which  he  had  occupied  in  Lord  Aberdeen's  Government. 
In  that  Cabinet  he  had  been  leader  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  possessed  an  influence  which,  if  less  way- 
wardly  exercised,  would  have  been  all  but  unbounded.  In 
Lord  Palmerston's  Government  he  had  ceased  to  lead  in 
Parliament,  he  had  little  influence,  his  recommendation  of 
the  Vienna  terms  had  been  set  aside  almost  contemptuously, 
and  he  had  in  fact  become  little  more  than  a  mere  depart- 
mental minister.  The  only  advantage  he  had  gained  was  a 
respite  from  the  importunities  of  his  own  friends,  who  were 
now  provided  with  ofifices.  He  was  consequently  as  dis- 
satisfied with  Lord  Palmerston's  Government  as  he  had 
been  with  that  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  and,  untaught  by  ex- 
perience, was  inclined  to  play  in  it  the  same  part  which  he 
had  taken  in  that  by  which  it  had  been  preceded.  About 
a  month  after  his  return  from  Vienna  he,  with  apparent 
insouciance^  paid  a  visit  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  whom  he  had 


LORD  JOHN    AT   VIENNA  295 

not  seen  since  his  resignation  in  January,  and  poured  out 
to  him  (as  Lord  Aberdeen  wrote),  '  with  some  bitterness,'  his 
complaints  against  Lord  Palmerston  and  Lord  Clarendon, 
who  had,  he  said,  rejected  terms  of  peace  which  he  himself 
thought  acceptable.  With  many  professions  of  friendship, 
he  sought  to  enlist  Lord  Aberdeen's  aid  in  placing  himself 
in  a  position  to  give  effect  to  the  peaceful  policy  of  which 
he  declared  himself  the  friend,  though  not  as  yet  openly  the 
advocate.  Lord  Aberdeen's  strong  sense  of  humour  was 
too  much  touched  by  the  absurdity  of  the  situation  to  feel 
resentment,  which  many  men  in  such  a  position  would 
have  testified,  at  being  so  approached  by  the  main  instru- 
ment of  his  own  overthrow,  and  he  was  too  desirous  to  see 
peace  restored  to  allow  any  personal  feeling  to  stand  in  its 
way.  He  received  Lord  John's  advances  good-humouredly, 
and  told  him  he  should  look  to  him  as  '  the  man  of  peace ' 
in  the  Cabinet^  but  gave  no  encouragement  to  ideas  of  re- 
forming its  composition.  Lord  Aberdeen  sent  an  account 
of  this  interview  to  Sir  James  Graham,  whose  comment  on 
it  was  : 

Lord  John  is  indeed  unfathomable.  I  know  not  which  most 
to  admire  :  his  pacific  language,  or  his  attempt  to  maintain 
friendly  relations  with  you.  He  might  have  made  peace  at 
Vienna  ;  he  was  bound  in  honour  to  defend  your  Government, 
of  which  he  remained  a  member  till  the  eve  of  an  attack,  when 
he  ran  away  leaving  the  door  open  for  a  triumphant  entry  of 
the  enemy  into  the  fortress.  To  talk  of  peace  now^  and  to 
profess  friendship  and  concert,  is  absurd  ;  but  his  present  posi- 
tion is  punishment  as  severe  as  an  implacable  adversary^  could 
desire. 

Lord  John  repeated  the  visit  a  few  days  later,  and  was 

equally  bitter  against  his  colleagues  ;  but   it  was   only  in 

consequence  of  a  direct  question  in  the  House  of  Commons 

from  Sir  John  Walsh  that  he  publicly  avowed  his  approval 

of  the  Austrian  proposals.     Lord  Aberdeen  wrote  to  Mr. 

Gladstone  the  next  day  : 


296  LORD   ABERDEEN 

I  think  you  will  read  Lord  John's  speech  with  some  surprise. 
Although  fully  aware  of  his  opinions  myself,  I  never  expected 
that  he  would  have  the  courage  to  communicate  them  to  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  to  the  whole  world,  as  he  did  yester- 
day. He  has  done  many  wonderful  things  ;  but  I  think  the 
most  wonderful  of  all  is  the  course  which  he  proposes  to  pursue, 
retaining  the  opinions  he  has  expressed  on  the  subject  of  peace 
and  the  Austrian  proposal.  I  presume,  however,  that  this  is 
scarcely  possible,  and  that  the  matter  cannot  remain  as  it  is  at 
present.  I  felt  this  so  strongly,  that  I  had  some  thoughts  of 
going  to  him  to-day,  and  of  telling  him  that  he  ought  not  to 
remain  another  hour  a  member  of  the  Government.  I  should 
have  done  this  in  return  for  the  very  frank  and  open  manner  in 
which  he  had  volunteered  recently  to  communicate  to  me  his 
own  views  and  opinions  on  the  transactions  at  Vienna.  But 
after  all,  I  am  not  his  '  keeper  ; '  and  I  do  not  know  that  there  is 
anything  in  our  antecedents  which  could  call  for  such  an  act  of 
friendship  on  my  part.  He  must  act  for  himself;  but  to  this 
conclusion  I  think  he  must  inevitably  come  at  last. 

Had  Lord  John  continued,  as  he  intended,  a  member 
of  the  Government,  Sir  E.  L.  Bulwer's  motion  of  censure 
would  unquestionably  have  been  carried  ;  but  on  the  eve 
of  its  being  brought  forward  he  found  it  impossible  to 
resist  the  plainly  expressed  opinion  of  the  public  that  he 
should  resign. 

The  resignation  of  the  Peelites  had  again  formed  them 
into  a  party,  though  a  small  one,  and  of  this  party  Lord 
Aberdeen  was  the  recognised  head.  But  to  its  continued 
existence  he  was  strongly  opposed.  He  urged  that  it  had 
in  fact  become  merged  in  the  body  of  the  Liberal  party,  and 
that  the  sooner  this  was  recognised  the  better.  After  the 
General  Election  of  1857,  at  which  the  greater  part  of  the 
so-called  Peelites  lost  their  seats,  this  recognition  appeared 
to  him  more  than  ever  desirable.  He  wrote  to  Mr.  Glad- 
stone that  : 

We  must  accustom  ourselves  to  the  conviction  that  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  a  distinctive  Peelite  party  in  existence.  .  .  . 
After  Lord  Derby's  overthrow  by  a  junction  with  the  Liberal 
party,  and  the  formation  of  a  Government  which  recognised 
Parliamentary  Reform  as  one  of  its  fundamental  measures,  the 


LETTERS   TO   MR.  GLADSTONE  297 

whole  relation  of  parties  was  changed,  and  I  consider  the 
amalgamation  of  Peel's  friends  with  the  Liberal  party  to  have 
practically  taken  place. 

Lord  John's  personal  ambition  and  the  discontent  of  the 
House  of  Commons  at  the  conduct  of  the  war,  led  to  the  over- 
throw of  my  Government,  and  to  the  exclusion  of  myself  and 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  as  well  as  of  Lord  John  himself.  But 
the  Government  remained  for  the  most  part  composed  of  the 
same  individuals  ;  and  although  circumstances  induced  some 
of  Peel's  friends  (whether  wisely  or  not)  to  leave  it,  I  do  not 
see  that  they  were  thereby  thrown  any  nearer  to  Lord  Derby 
and  his  party,  or  necessarily  released  from  the  Liberal  policy 
to  which  they  had  recently  adhered.  They  had  simply  regained 
their  independence  ....  For  my  own  part,  I  am  little  more 
than  a  spectator  ;  but  I  adhere  to  the  declarations  made  on 
my  assuming  the  Government.  ...  I  believe,  too,  that  in  this 
age  of  progress  the  Liberal  party  must  ultimately  govern  the 
country ;  and  I  only  hope  that  their  supremacy  may  be  esta- 
blished without  mischief  or  confusion. 

The  proposition  that  the  Peelites  had  virtually  joined 
the  Liberal  party  was  stoutly  contested  by  Mr.  Gladstone, 
who  maintained  that,  if  it  were  true,  he  had  been  guilty  of 
deceiving  the  world  and  his  own  constituency,  and  had 
indeed  deceived  himself.  But  Lord  Aberdeen  adhered  to 
his  position  : 

I  think  you  will  admit,  on  reflection  (he  wrote),  that  I  am 
right  in  saying  that,  when  my  Government  was  formed,  an 
amalgamation  of  .Peel's  friends  with  the  Liberal  party  took 
place.  This  is  so  true  that,  although  frequently  tormented  by 
the  personal  waywardness  of  Lord  John,  the  amalgamation  was 
complete  so  long  as  the  Government  lasted. 

You  joined  Palmerston's  Government  with  reluctance ;  but 
you  left  it  with  Graham  and  Herbert  on  a  ground  entirely 
unconnected  with  Peelism,  and  on  which  any  other  three 
members  of  the  Cabinet  might  with  equal  consistency  have 
seceded.  You  remained  on  the  Liberal  side  of  the  House, 
and  did  not  declare  any  general  hostility  to  the  Government. 

Now  has  anything  happened  essentially  to  alter  your 
position  ?  It  is  true  that  the  House  and  the  public  determine 
to  call  you  Peelites  ;  and  certainly  I  am  the  last  man  in  the 
world  to  reject  on  your  account  the  honour- and  advantage  of 
being  friends  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  ;  but  your  differences  with  the 
Government  have  no  necessary  connection  with  him  or  with 
his  memory.     You  have   opposed  the  Government,  and  may 


298  LORD  ABERDEEN 

probably  do  so  again,  in  the  exercise  of  the  freedom  you  have 
acquired  ;  but  it  is  as  a  Liberal  ;  and  I  think  something  much 
more  important  must  take  place  to  justify  crossing  the  House 
and  entering  the  opposite  camp. 

This  may  happen,  and  it  is  even  probable  that  it  may  do 
so.  I  think  it  seems  clear  that  the  Government  will  bring 
forward  a  great  measure  of  Reform.  Then  you  will  be  found 
to  differ  from  Graham  and  Herbert,  and  here  would  be  a  case 
to  authorise  a  permanent  change  of  position  in  the  House. 

My  strong  recommendation  is  to  await  some  such  cause 
of  change.  You  will  probably  act  together  in  many  questions 
connected  with  foreign  policy,  economy,  and  retrenchment. 
If  any  great  difference  should  occur,  let  it  be  declared  in  the 
face  of  the  House,  and  let  it  lead  to  its  natural  result.  I  am 
sure  this  would  be  more  honourable  to  yourself  and  more 
satisfactory  to  all  concerned. 

It  is  probably  not  too  much  to  say,  that  it  was  Lord 

Aberdeen's  influence  which   restrained  Mr.   Gladstone  on 

more  than  one  occasion  from   following  the  bent  of  his 

inclination,  and   throwing   himself  into   the   ranks    of  the 

Conservative   party.     A    few   months   before   the   General 

Election  of  1857,  an  interview  between  Lord  Derby  and 

Mr.  Gladstone,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  concert  of 

action  on  the  meeting  of  Parliament  which  could  only  have 

led  to   one   result,  had  been   all   but  arranged.     On   that 

occasion  Lord  Aberdeen  had  written  : 

Dece?nber  5,  1856. — I  have  told  Graham  that  I  thought 
he  was  too  hasty  in  imagining  that  you  had  actually  made  up 
your  mind,  and  that  you  would  be  found,  at  the  opening  of  the 
Session,  seated  on  the  front  bench  of  the  Opposition.  I  added, 
however,  that  I  thought  it  probable  this  step  would  not  be 
long  delayed  ;  although  it  was  clear  that  much  prudence  and 
circumspection  would  be  required  on  your  part  before  you 
arrived  at  such  a  decision. 

As  you  agreed  to  join  Palmerston  after  I  had  left  the 
Government,  I  think  it  will  never  do  to  attempt  his  overthrow 
without  some  specific  and  assignable  cause.  Strong  appre- 
hensions of  a  mischievous  policy,  and  general  disapprobation 
and  distrust,  will  not  be  sufficient. 

There  is  nothing  to  prevent  Lord  Derby  from  approaching 
you  if  he  is  desirous  of  doing  so  ;  but  any  intimation  from  you 
of  your  readiness  to  communicate  with  him  would  be  in  reality 


LETTERS  TO   MR.  GLADSTONE  299 

to  take  the  initiative,  and  if  it  had  any  result  would  lead  to  the 
establishment  of  such  a  compact  as,  I  think  at  this  moment, 
would  scarcely  be  justifiable.  My  advice,  therefore,  would  be 
to  remain  perfectly  passive  for  the  present. 

I  confess  that  I  have  little  skill  in  political  combinations, 
and  do  not  know  what  the  exigencies  of  party  may  require 
or  may  render  necessary ;  but  I  hope  you  feel  that  my  sole 
object  is  to  protect  your  reputation,  and  to  promote  your  future 
efficiency. 

Your  position  in  the  House  of  Commons  is  very  peculiar. 
With  an  admitted  superiority  of  character,  and  of  intellectual 
power,  above  any  other  member,  I  fear  that  you  do  not  really 
possess  the  sympathy  of  the  House  at  large,  while  you  have 
incurred  the  strong  dislike  of  a  considerable  portion  of  Lord 
Derby's  followers.  Your  recent  conduct  in  Parliament  has  not 
been  fully  understood,  but  it  has  been  very  unpopular,  and 
any  new  course  which  is  not  perfectly  intelligible  and  clearly 
justified  by  the  necessity  of  the  case  will  only  add  to  this 
unpopularity.  I  care  little  for  the  Government,  and  entertain 
the  greatest  apprehension  of  Palmerston's  foreign  policy.  I 
have  the  highest  admiration  of  Lord  Derby's  talents  ;  but  I 
see  very  much  to  lament  in  him,  and  still  more  in  his  friends. 
You  are  the  person  to  whose  future  I  look  forward  with  hope 
and  confidence  ;  and  with  so  much  to  command  ultimate  suc- 
cess^ it  cannot  very  long  be  delayed.  I  am  only  anxious  that 
these  prospects  should  not  be  injured  by  any  premature  or 
ill-considered  decision. 

The  contemplated  meeting  did  not  take  place. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  happened  during  the  two  years 
for  which  they  were  colleagues,  and  in  spite  of  the  cata- 
strophe with  which  their  association  closed,  Lord  Aberdeen 
continued  to  think  Lord  John  Russell  the  fittest  head  of 
the  Liberal  party  ;  and,  except  perhaps  for  the  first  few 
weeks  after  Lord  John  had  '  tripped  up  his  heels,'  during 
which  he  considered  that  Lord  John's  conduct  deserved 
some  retribution,  he  remained  steadily  disposed  to  assist 
him  in  obtaining  the  Premiership.  Lord  John's  errors  were, 
he  thought,  sufficiently  atoned  for  by  the  humiliation  he  had 
undergone  in  1855,  and  the  isolated  and  powerless  posi- 
tion to  which  he  had  been  reduced ;  while  to  the  higher 
and  nobler  qualities  of  his  character  Lord  Aberdeen  never 


300  LORD   ABERDEEN 

failed  to  do  the  fullest  justice.  When,  towards  the  close  of 
1856,  the  Duke  of  Bedford  made  inquiries  of  Lord  Aber- 
deen as  to  the  exact  nature  of  the  communications  which 
had  passed  between  him  and  Lord  John  as  to  the  succes- 
sion of  the  latter  to  the  first  place  in  the  Government,  he 
replied  in  the  letter  which  has  been  quoted  in  a  previous 
chapter.  It  cost  Lord  Aberdeen  no  effort  to  write  this 
letter,  which  was  the  simple  expression  of  his  thoughts. 
But  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  among  his  contemporaries 
in  public  life  another  equally  free  from  harbouring  even  a 
trace  of  resentment  for  grave  injury  sustained.  Lord 
Aberdeen  sent  a  copy  of  the  Duke's  letter,  and  of  his  own 
reply,  to  Sir  James  Graham,  who,  in  returning  them,  wrote 
thus  : 

December  iZ^  1856. — I  must  begin  by  the  expression  of  my 
feelings  on  reading  your  answer  to  the  Duke  of  Bedford.  I 
observe  that  it  is  dated  on  Christmas  Day.  It  is  well  worthy  of 
a  Christian.  If  I  could  envy  you  anything,  it  would  be  the 
frame  of  mind  which  prompted  that  answer.  I  know  few  men 
who  could  have  written  it.  To  return  good  for  evil  ;  to  love 
our  enemies  ;  to  bless  even  those  who  despitefully  use  us  ;  are 
the  hard  proofs  of  an  honest  endeavour  '  to  be  perfect,  as 
our  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.'  Yet  this  is  the  spirit  which 
dictated  your  answer.  It  might  have  been  more  cold  and 
more  guarded ;  but  I  would  rather  have  written  it  than  any- 
thing which  I  have  read  for  many  a  day.  I  doubt  not  it  will 
have  its  reward.  The  facts  I  believe  are  stated  by  you  with 
perfect  accuracy.  The  intentions,  the  reflections,  the  feelings, 
are  your  own.  No  one  can  gainsay  them  ;  all  good  men  must 
admire  them. 

Lord  Aberdeen  continued,  so  long  as  he  took  any  part 
at  all  in  public  affairs,  to  regard  Lord  John's  accession 
to  power  as  desirable,  and  acted  in  concert  with  him  in 
regard  to  the  India  Bills  of  1858.  But  Lord  Aberdeen 
had  now  ceased  to  occupy  himself  actively  in  political 
contests.  His  position  had  become  that  of  a  referee  and 
confidant,  whose  advice  was  sought  and  listened  to,  who 


LORD  ABERDEEN   AT   HADDO  30I 

still  took  a  lively  interest  in  public  affairs  of  real  import- 
ance, but  who  was  no  longer  concerned  in  party  or  per- 
sonal conflicts.  His  influence,  however,  was  perhaps  greater 
now  than  at  any  time.  It  was  known  that,  if  the  Derby 
Government  were  driven  from  office  in  1858,  it  was  Lord 
x\berdeen  who  would  be  sent  for  by  the  Queen.  As  it 
was  equally  well  known  that,  though  he  might  consent  to 
form  a  Cabinet,  he  would  never  again  consent  to  head  one 
(which,  indeed,  his  declining  strength  forbade),  it  was  felt 
that  the  decision  between  the  rival  claims  to  supremacy 
which  agitated  the  Liberal  party  would  probably  devolve  on 
him.  The  Government  of  Lord  Derby,  however,  continued 
to  struggle  on  through  another  year  of  existence. 

But  honourable  and  influential  as  was  the  position  he 
occupied  in  the  world,  it  was  on  his  home  that  his  thoughts 
and  affections  were  daily  more  and  more  centred.  Ex- 
cept for  a  few  days  in  1854,  he  had  been  absent  from 
Haddo  for  three  years,  when  he  returned  there  in  the 
summer  of  1855.  His  enjoyment  of  his  stay  there  in  that 
and  the  following  years  was  profound.  All  his  old  habits 
were  revived  and  old  pursuits  resumed,  and  the  days  were 
passed  much  in  the  manner  which  I  have  before  described. 
But  the  formality  was  less  formal,  the  stiffness  less  rigid. 
There  was  greater  softness  in  his  manner.  Less  restraint 
was  imposed  on  the  manifestation  of  his  affections,  and  the 
benevolence  of  his  spirit  was  less  disguised  by  external 
severity. 

Many  years  before,  on  Christmas  Day,  1844,  Lord 
Aberdeen,  then  staying  at  Windsor  Castle,  came  over  for  a 
few  hours  in  the  afternoon  to  St.  Leonard's  Vale,  a  house 
■  then  occupied  by  Lord  and  Lady  Haddo.  All  his  children, 
the  writer  among  them,  were  assembled  there.  As  he  rose 
to  go,  on  his  return  to  the  Castle,  he  reminded  us  that  we 


302  LORD   ABERDEEN 

had  all  been  there  on  the  previous  Christmas  Day.  He  had 
not  then  expected,  he  said,  that  we  should  all  meet  again  on 
that  day,  but,  as  we  had  done  so,  he  would  preach  to  us  a 
sermon— a  very  short  one,  which  would  be  text  and  sermon 
both— but  one  which  he  hoped  we  should  all  remember  as 
long  as  we  lived  :  '  Love  one  another.'  He  then  left  the 
room.  It  was  the  spirit  of  this  sermon  which  breathed  in 
all  his  later  life  at  Haddo— a  spirit  by  which  he  had  been 
always  ruled,  but  the  influence  of  which  was  more  per- 
ceptible as  the  work  of  the  outer  world  exercised  a  less 
peremptory  claim  on  his  time  and  thoughts. 

Almost  the  only  reflection  which  troubled  the  tranquil 
enjoyment  of  this  period  of  repose  was  the  apprehension 
that  he  had  not  struggled  with  sufficient  earnestness  in  the 
cause  of  peace  in  1853.  To  Hudson  Gurney  he  wrote 
in  1857  : 

You  are  quite  right  in  supposing  that  I  look  back  with 
satisfaction  to  the  efforts  made  by  me  to  preserve  peace.  My 
only  cause  of  regret  is  that  when  I  found  this  to  be  impos- 
sible I  did  not  at  once  retire,  instead  of  allowing  myself  to  be 
dragged  into  a  war  which,  although  strictly  justifiable  in  itself, 
was  most  unwise  and  unnecessary.  All  this  will  be  acknow- 
ledged some  day,  but  the  worst  of  it  is  that  it  will  require  fifty 
years  before  men's  eyes  are  opened  to  the  truth. 

One  fact  may  be  mentioned,  which  shows  how  deeply 
his  share  of  responsibility  for  the  Russian  war  weighed 
upon  Lord  Aberdeen's  heart  and  conscience.  Many  new 
churches,  manses,  and  schools  had  been  built  by  Lord 
Aberdeen.  The  manse  of  Methlick  was  about  this  time 
rebuilt  on  a  new  site  and  in  a  better  manner,  but  Lord 
Aberdeen  declined  to  rebuild  the  parish  church,  though 
the  structure  was  dilapidated,  ugly,  and  inconvenient.  '  I 
leave  that  for  George,'  he  said.  His  reasons  for  this,  in  him, 
very  unusual  conduct  were  never  suspected,  even  by  those 
most  nearly  in  his  confidence,  until  after  his  death  ;  when 


NOTE  ON    THE   CRIMEAN   WAR  303 

the  following  text  was  found  written  by  him  more  than  once, 

and  at  different  times,  on  various  scraps  of  paper  : 

And  David  said  to  Solomon,  My  son,  as  for  me,  it  was  in  my 
mind  to  build  an  house  unto  the  name  of  the  Lord  my  God  : 
but  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  me,  saying.  Thou  hast  shed 
blood  abundantly,  and  hast  made  great  wars  :  thou  shalt  not 
build  an  house  unto  my  name,  because  thou  hast  shed  much 
blood  upon  the  earth  in  my  sight  (i  Chronicles  xxii.  7,  8). 

During  the  winter  of  1855  Lord  Aberdeen  had  written 
the  following  note  upon  the  war,  which  then  still  pursued 
its  course. 

I  have  never  entertained  the  least  doubt  of  the  justice  of  the 
war  in  which  we  are  at  present  engaged.  It  is  unquestionably 
just,  and  it  is  also  strongly  marked  by  a  character  of  disin- 
terestedness. But  although  just  and  disinterested,  the  policy 
and  the  necessity  of  this  war  may  perhaps  be  less  certain.  It 
is  possible  that  our  posterity  may  form  a  different  estimate  on 
this  head  from  that  at  which  we  have  arrived. 

The  policy,  or  necessity,  of  any  war  must  always  be,  more 
or  less,  the  subject  of  doubt,  and  must  vary  according  to  a 
change  of  circumstances.  This  is  not  matter  of  immutable 
principle,  but  may  be  affected  by  an  infinite  variety  of  con- 
siderations. It  is  true  that  every  necessary  war  must  also 
really  be  a  just  war  ;  but  it  does  not  absolutely  follow  that 
every  just  war  must  also  be  a  necessary  war. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  a  vast  majority 
of  the  people  of  this  country  entertain  no  doubt  on  the  subject, 
but  are  thoroughly  convinced  that  the  war  is  both  just  and 
necessary,  and,  as  such,  are  prepared  to  give  it  their  cordial 
support. 

Now,  with  the  existence  of  so  strong  and  general  a  feeling, 
it  seems  almost  to  partake  of  arrogance  to  demur  in  any  degree 
to  these  conclusions,  and  to  resist  the  weight  of  the  popular 
voice. 

But  a  reference  to  history  may  prevent  us  from  subscribing 
implicitly  to  such  demonstrations  of  opinion.  It  is  enough  to 
recall  to  recollection  that,  when  Sir  Robert  Walpole  was  re- 
luctantly drawn  into  his  Spanish  war,  the  country  was  quite  as 
unanimous  as — perhaps  more  so  than — at  the  present  moment. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  such  unanimity,  there  is  no  man  who  would  now 
hesitate  to  declare  that  the  war  in  question  was  both  unjust  and 
unnecessary. 

The  national  feeling  at  that  period  was  excited  under  circum- 
stances in  some  degree  similar  to  the  present.  At  that  period 
a  peace  of  thirty  years  had  rendered  the  minds  of  men  more 


304  LORD   ABERDEEN 

easy  to  be  roused  by  appeals  which  had  all  the  character  ot 
novelty  ;  and  at  the  present  day  I  believe  that  our  forty  years' 
peace  has  rendered  the  nation  more  ready  to  receive  the  ex- 
citement and  to  encounter  the  unknown  evils  of  a  state  of 
war.  I  am  very  far  from  meaning  to  assert  that  the  people 
did  not  entertain  a  strong  feeling  of  indignation  against  injustice 
and  of  sympathy  for  the  oppressed.  Their  natural  feelings  are 
always  generous  ;  but  I  doubt  if  this  impulse  would  have  led 
to  the  same  results  if  it  had  been  called  into  action  at  an  earlier 
period  after  the  conclusion  of  the  late  war.  Indeed,  I  have 
had  personal  experience  of  the  truth  of  this  opinion  ;  for  in  the 
war  which  Russia  declared  against  Turkey  in  the  year  1828, 
although  equally  unjust  and  unprovoked,  the  people  of  this 
country  saw  the  Russian  troops  advance  almost  to  the  gates  of 
Constantinople  with  comparative  indifference  ;  and  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  wished  to  uphold  the 
interests  of  the  Porte,  met  with  no  response  from  Parliament 
or  the  people,  but  were  thought  to  espouse  the  cause  of  tyranny, 
ignorance,  and  barbarism. 

We  hear  great  apprehensions  expressed  on  all  sides  lest 
this  war  should  be  terminated  by  an  ignominious  peace.  But 
although  we  should  share  in  the  feeling,  it  may  not  be  so  easy 
to  avoid  the  imputation  of  such  a  result.  For  in  every  contest 
in  which  this  country  has  been  engaged  during  the  last  century 
we  may  presume  that  it  has  been  the  determination  of  each 
succeeding  Government,  loudly  declared,  to  obtain  the  conditions 
of  a  just  and  honourable  peace.  It  is  remarkable,  however, 
that,  with  a  single  exception,  every  treaty  concluded  at  the 
termination  of  our  great  wars  has  been  stigmatised  as  humili- 
ating and  degrading,  ignominious,  hollow,  and  unsafe. 

Such  has  been  the  sentence  of  the  patriots  of  the  day.  It 
was  the  case  at  the  peace  of  Utrecht  in  17 13,  at  the  peace  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle  in  1748,  at  the  peace  of  Paris  in  1763,  at  the 
peace  of  Versailles  in  1783,  and  at  the  peace  of  Amiens  in 
1 80 1.  The  single  exception  was  the  peace  of  Paris  in  1814  ; 
and,  although  severely  criticised  in  other  respects,  it  would 
have  been  difficult  in  this  case  for  patriotism  or  faction  to  have 
discovered  humiliation  and  disgrace  in  a  treaty  dictated  at  the 
head  of  a  victorious  army  in  the  capital  of  an  enemy. 

But  although  such  has  been  the  contemporaneous  condem- 
nation of  our  treaties  of  peace,  I  do  not  think  that  this  severe 
verdict  has  been  ratified  by  a  more  impartial  posterity. 

The  restoration  of  peace,  it  is  needless  to  say,  caused 
him  the  liveliest  pleasure  ;  but  he  saw  little  to  commend  in 
the  manner  in  which  the  foreign  relations  of  the  country 
were   subsequently  conducted.     Like   other  men,  he  was 


VISIT  OF   THE  QUEEN   TO   HADDO  305 

profoundly  moved  by  the  disasters  which  marked  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Indian  Mutiny  ;  but,  unlike  too  many 
other  men  in  England,  he  never  for  an  instant  hesitated  to 
denounce  the  '  bloodthirsty  spirit '  which  took  possession 
of  the  press  and  of  the  people,  and  which  he  partly 
attributed  to  the  disappointment  felt  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  war  with  Russia  without  any  signal  or  specially  glorious 
triumph.  He  wrote  more  than  once  to  Lord  Canning,  to 
encourage  him  under  the  obloquy  heaped  on  him  for  his 
strict  regard  to  justice. 

During  the  annual  stay  of  the  Royal  Family  at  Balmoral, 
Lord  Aberdeen's  relations  with  the  Queen  and  Prince 
Consort  were  always  pleasantly  renewed,  and  in  the  autumn 
of  1857  they  paid  him  a  visit  at  Haddo  House.  For  more 
than  a  mile  along  the  approach,  the  road  was  lined  with 
tenants  on  horseback,  who  closed  in  after  Her  Majesty's 
carriage,  and  escorted  her  to  the  house  in  a  manner  similar 
to  that  in  which  they  had  accompanied  Lord  and  Lady 
Haddo  home  after  their  marriage. 

The  visit  was  a  purely  private  one,  only  Lord  Aber- 
deen's children  and  grandchildren,  with  Lord  and  Lady 
Abercorn  and  two  of  their  daughters,  being  present  ;  but 
an  address  was  presented  to  the  Queen  by  the  tenantry, 
thanking  her  for  the  honour  which  she  had  done  their  land- 
lord.' 

Not  long  after  the  Queen's  visit,  Lord  Aberdeen  was 
attacked  by  sudden  illness,  which  for  two  or  three  days 
threatened  danger  to  life.  Any  cause  for  immediate  appre- 
hension soon  passed  away  ;  but  he  did  not  recover  strength, 

•  '  It  may  amuse  some  readers  to  know  (as  an  example  of  the  sim- 
plicity of  life  mentioned  at  page  193)  that  the  window- curtains,  bed- 
curtains,  and  other  furniture  of  Her  Majesty's  room  on  this  occasion, 
consisted  of  white  dimity  lined  with  blue  calico. 


306  LORD   ABERDEEN 

and  in  compliance  with  medical  advice  returned  to  London 
early  in  December.  There  his  health  gradually,  though 
very  slowly,  improved,  and  in  the  summer  of  1858,  though 
not  as  strong  as  before,  he  resumed  most  of  his  former 
habits,  attending  the  House  of  Lords  and  even  speaking 
there.  As  an  adviser,  he  took  an  important  share  in  the 
political  movements  of  the  year.  The  autumn  was  passed 
pleasantly  at  Haddo,  and  cheered  by  visits  from  M.  Guizot, 
Sir  James  Graham,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gladstone,  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford,  and  other  friends. 

The  improvement  in  Lord  Aberdeen's  health  continued 
through  all  the  early  part  of  1859,  and  in  the  summer  he 
appeared  to  be  restored  to  very  nearly  the  same  condition 
as  before  his  attack  in  1857  ;  but  almost  immediately 
after  returning  to  Haddo  in  August  an  apparently  trivial 
indisposition,  which  confined  him  to  his  room  for  a  day  or 
two,  was  followed  by  a  gradual  decay  of  strength  from  which 
he  never  rallied.  He  returned  indeed  to  London  for  the 
winter,  and  was  well  enough  to  go  back  as  usual  to  Haddo 
in  the  summer  of  i860 ;  but  slowly,  and  almost  imperceptibly, 
his  strength  continued  to  decline.  He  could  no  longer 
walk  more  than  a  few  steps  unassisted.  He  could  no 
longer  drive  himself  in  his  pony  carriage  ;  and  when,  at  the 
end  of  October  i860,  he  returned  to  London,  it  was  evident 
that  his  life  was  drawing  towards  a  close.  On  December  14 
he  tranquilly  expired,  surrounded  by  his  children  and  step- 
children. Not  all  of  them,  however,  were  there.  His 
eldest  son  and  his  dearly  beloved  daughter-in-law  were  in 
Egypt,  where  Lord  Haddo,  then  suffering  from  the  mortal 
illness  under  which  he  sank  less  than  four  years  after,  had 
gone  for  the  sake  of  the  climate.  On  December  21  he  was 
laid  by  the  side  of  those  he  had  best  loved,  in  the  ruins  of 
the  old  church  at  Stanmore.     The  funeral  service  was  read 


LORD   ABERDEEN  S  FUNERAL  307 

by  Bishop  Wilberforce,  who  in  a  letter  to  the  writer  thus 
described  the  scene  : 

I  am  most  thankful  I  was  with  you  at  Stanmore,  not  only 
because  I  should  ever  after  have  so  lamented  my  absence,  but 
also  because  I  would  not  for  anything  have  missed  that  last 
and  most  impressive  sight,  which  now  is  engraven  in  my 
memory  for  ever  :  Graham's  tall  kingly  figure,  with  the  snow 
falling  on  his  bald  head  and  his  full  countenance. ;  Gladstone, 
with  his  face  speaking  ;  Newcastle  ;  you  ;  and  the  light  within 
that  vault,  and  all  that  belonged  to  its  opening  and  its  closing. 

*  AIKAIOTATO^'  is  the  epitaph  inscribed  on  Lord  Aber- 
deen's monument  in  Westminster  Abbey.  The  love  of 
justice  was,  no  doubt,  strong  in  him,  but,  like  nearly  all  at- 
tempts to  describe  a  complex  human  character  in  a  single 
word,  the  title  of  '  most  just '  conveys  but  a  partial  idea  of 
what  manner  of  man  Lord  Aberdeen  in  truth  was.  Many 
have  equalled  him,  perhaps  have  surpassed  him,  in  devotion 
to  exact  justice,  who  have  altogether  failed  to  gain  that  deep 
respect  and  confidence  which  were  invariably  given  to 
Lord  Aberdeen  by  those  who  were  brought  into  close  asso- 
ciation with  him.  Nor  is  the  cause  of  this  far  to  seek,  for 
the  existence  of  a  keen  sense  of  justice  is  quite  compatible 
with  the  absence  of  other  qualities  which  Lord  Aberdeen 
also  possessed  in  no  common  measure ;  and  the  possession 
of  which,  even  had  that  particular  virtue  been  less  strongly 
developed  in  him,  would  have  sufficiently  accounted  for  the 
influence  over  others  which  he  obtained.  The  impression 
produced  on  those  who  acted  with  him  in  public  life,  by 
the  unselfishness,  toleration,  unsuspiciousness,  and  calmness 
of  mind,  which  were  as  marked  characteristics  of  Lord 
Aberdeen  as  was  his  love  of  justice,  has  been  described  by 
one  of  the  most  eminent  among  them,  in  a  letter  written  a 
few  months  after  Lord  Aberdeen's  death,  from  which  I  am 
permitted  to  quote  the  following  extracts  : 

X  2 


308  LORD   ABERDEEN 

*  Some  of  his  [Lord  Aberdeen's]  great  qualities,'  wrote 
Mr.  Gladstone,  '  adorned  him  in  common  with  several,  or 
even  with  many,  contemporary  statesmen  ;  such  as  clearness 
of  view,  strength  of  the  deliberative  faculty,  strong  sense  of  duty 
to  the  Crown,  and  the  most  thorough  and  uncompromising 
loyalty  to  his  friends  and  colleagues.  .  .  .  But  if  I  have  said 
that  he  had  much  in  common  with  other  distinguished  men, 
it  has  been  by  way  of  preface  to  what  I  have  now  to  say, 
namely,  that  what  has  ever  struck  me  most  in  his  character  as 
a  whole  was  its  distinctiveness.  There  were  several  mental 
virtues  that  he  possessed  in  a  degree  very  peculiar ;  there  were, 
I  think,  one  or  two  in  which  he  stood  almost  alone.  ...  I  will 
name  the  following  characteristics,  one  and  all  of  which  were 
more  prominent  in  him  than  in  any  public  man  I  ever  knew  : 
mental  calmness  ;  the  absence  (if  for  want  of  better  words  I  may 
describe  it  by  a  negative)  of  all  egotism  ;  the  love  of  exact 
justice  ;  a  thorough  tolerance  of  spirit  ;  and  last,  and  most  of 
all,  an  entire  absence  of  suspicion.  There  was  something  very 
remarkable  in  the  combination  of  these  qualities  as  well  as  in 
their  separate  possession.  Most  men  who  might  be  happy 
enough  to  have  one-half  of  his  love  of  justice  would  be  so 
tossed  with  storms  of  indignation  at  injustice  as  to  lose  the 
balance  of  their  judgment.  But  he  had,  or  seemed  to  have,  all 
the  benefit,  all  the  ennobling  force  of  strong  emotion,  with  a 
complete  exemption  from  its  dangers.  His  mind  seemed  to 
move  in  an  atmosphere  of  chartered  tranquillity,  which  allowed 
him  the  view  of  every  object,  however  blinding  to  others,  in  its 
true  position  and  proportion.  ...  I  feel  that  I  cannot  by  any 
effort  do  justice  to  what  I  have  termed  his  finely  shaded 
character  ;  .  .  .  but  I  cannot  stop  without  saying  a  word  on  the 
quality  which  I  regard  as  beyond  all  others  his  own  ;  I  mean 
the  absence  from  his  nature  of  all  tendency  to  suspicion. 
Those  who  have  read  his  State  papers,  and  admired  their 
penetrating  force  and  comprehensive  scope,  will  not  misunder- 
stand me  when  I  say  that  he  was  in  this  respect  a  little  child, 
not  from  defect  of  vision  but  from  thorough  nobleness  of  nature. 
This  entire  immunity  from  suspicion,  which  makes  our  minds 
in  general  like  a  haunted  place,  and  the  sense  of  the  immunity 
that  he  conveyed  to  his  friends  in  all  his  dealings  with  them, 
combined  with  the  deep  serenity  of  his  mind,  which  ever 
seemed  to  beguile  and  allay  by  some  kindly  process  of  nature 
excitement  in  others,  gave  an  indescribable  charm  to  all  inter- 
course with  him  in  critical  and  difficult  circumstances.  Hence 
perhaps  in  great  part,  and  not  merely  from  his  intellectual 
gifts,  was  derived  the  remarkable  power  he  seemed  to  me  to 
exercise  in  winning  confidences  without  seeking  to  win  them  ; 
and,  on  the  whole,  I  believe  that  this  quality,  could  we  hold  it 
as   it   was   held   in   him,  would  save   us  from   ten   erroneous 


LETTER  FROM  MR.  GLADSTONE      309 

judgments  for  one  into  which  it  might  lead.  For  the  grand 
characteristic  of  suspicion  after  all,  as  of  superstition,  is  to  see 
things  as  they  are  not.  .  .  .  Lord  Aberdeen  was  not  demon- 
strative. He  was  unstudied  in  speech,  and  it  is  of  interest  to 
inquire  what  it  was  that  gave  such  extraordinary  force  and 
impressiveness  to  his  language.  He  did  not  deal  in  antithesis. 
His  sayings  were  not  sharpened  with  gall.  In  short,  one 
might  go  on  disclaiming  for  him  all  the  accessories  to  which 
most  men  who  are  impressive  owe  their  impressiveness.  Yet 
I  never  knew  anyone  who  was  so  impressive,  in  brief  utter- 
ances conveying  the  sum  of  the  matter.  .  .  .  It  is  no  reproach 
to  other  statesmen  of  this  or  of  other  periods  to  say  that 
scarcely  any  of  them  have  had  a  celebrity  so  entirely  unaided 
by  a  transitory  glare.  But  if  this  be  so,  it  implies  that  while 
they  for  the  most  part  must  relatively  lose,  he  must  relatively 
and  greatly  gain.  If  they  have  had  stage -lights,  and  he  has 
had  none,  it  is  the  hour  when  those  lights  are  extinguished  that 
will  for  the  first  time  do  that  justice  between  them  which  he 
was  too  noble,  too  far  aloft  in  the  tone  of  his  mind,  to  desire  to 
anticipate.  All  the  qualities  and  parts  in  which  he  was  great 
were  those  that  are  the  very  foundation-stones  of  our  being ;  as 
foundation-stones  they  are  deep,  and  as  being  deep  they  are 
withdrawn  from  view ;  but  time  is  their  witness  and  their  friend, 
and  in  the  final  distribution  of  posthumous  fame  Lord  Aberdeen 
has  nothing  to  forfeit,  he  has  only  to  receive.  I  see,  on  perusing 
what  I  have  written,  that  in  the  endeavour  to  set  forth  the 
virtues  and  great  qualities  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  I  seem  more  or 
less  to  disparage  other  men,  including  Sir  Robert  Peel,  whom 
he  so  much  esteemed  and  loved.  I  had  no  such  intention,  and 
it  is  the  fault  of  my  hand,  not  of  my  will.  He  would  not  have 
claimed,  he  would  not  have  wished  or  borne,  that  others 
should  claim  for  him  superiority,  or  even  parity  in  all  points 
with  all  his  contemporaries.  But  there  was  a  certain  region  of 
character  that  was,  so  to  speak,  all  his  own  ;  and  there  other 
men  do  seem  more  or  less  dwarfed  beside  him.  In  the  combi- 
nation of  profound  feeling  with  a  calmness  of  mind  equally 
profound,  of  thorough  penetration  with  the  largest  charity,  of 
the  wisdom  of  the  serpent  with  the  harmlessness  of  the  dove, 
in  the  total  suppression  and  exclusion  of  self  from  his  reckon- 
ings and  actions — in  all  this  we  may  think  him  supreme,  and 
yet  have  a  broad  array  of  good  and  noble  qualities  in  which  he 
may  have  shared  variously  with  others.  There  are  other 
secrets  of  his  character  and  inner  life  into  which  I  do  not 
pretend  to  have  penetrated.  It  always  seemed  to  me  that 
there  was  a  treasure-house  within  him,  which  he  kept  closed 
against  the  eyes  of  men.' 

The  delineation  of  so  'finely  shaded'  a  chafracter  (to 


3IO  LORD   ABERDEEN 

use  Mr.  Gladstone's  expression)  would  not,  in  any  circum- 
stances, be  an  easy  task,  but  it  is  made  more  difficult  by  the 
fact,  that  both  the  public  and  the  private  life  of  Lord  Aber- 
deen were,  generally  speaking,  comparatively  hidden.  Of 
those  who  have  filled  situations  so  prominent,  few  have 
come  less  distinctly  under  public  observation. 

Lord  Beaconsfield,  in  one  of  his  novels — '  Sybil,'  I  think 
— writes  of  Lord  Shelburne  as  being  among  the  'suppressed ' 
characters  of  English  history ;  a  phrase  not  perhaps  alto- 
gether happily  chosen,  but  by  which  it  is  intended  to 
describe  men  of  abilities  and  acquirements  unsuspected  by 
the  general  public,  who  exercised  in  their  lifetime  an  in- 
fluence of  which  the  world  around  them,  even  in  their  own 
day,  was  but  imperfectly  aware,  and  of  which,  after  their 
death,  and  that  of  their  contemporaries  who  had  felt  its 
power,  but  few  traces  remained.  Of  such  men  Lord  Aber- 
deen was  emphatically  one.  Kinglake,  whose  researches 
among  the  papers  of  Lord  Raglan,  and  acquaintance  with 
the  oral  traditions  of  the  period  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  Govern- 
ment, disclosed  to  him,  as  a  fact,  the  position  occupied  by 
Lord  Aberdeen  among  his  colleagues  and  contemporaries, 
expresses  in  his  '  History  of  the  Crimean  War '  his  inability  to 
understand  that  position,  and  rightly  assumes  that  it  must 
be  attributed  to  qualities  undiscovered  by  the  world,  it  not 
being,  in  his  opinion,  justified  by  anything  which  Lord 
Aberdeen  ever  did,  or  wrote,  or  spoke  in  public.  And 
this  opinion,  so  far  as  any  single  act,  or  speech,  or  writing  of 
Lord  Aberdeen's  is  concerned,  is  not  altogether  ill  founded. 
There  is  nothing  in  his  career  to  dazzle  the  spectator,  nothing 
to  command  instant  or  excessive  admiration.  He  performed 
no  act  which  powerfully  strikes  the  fancy,  he  made  no  speech 
which  by  its  eloquence  or  wit  imposes  on  the  imagination. 
Neither  the  powers  of  his  mind  nor  the  charm  of  his  per- 


LORD  ABERDEEN'S   CHARACTER  3II 

sonal  character  can  now  be  appreciated,  except  either  by 
those  few  yet  remaining  who  Hved  in  close  personal  inter- 
course with  him,  or  by  those  who  have  had  opportunities  of 
studying,  not  merely  a  few  chance  specimens  of  his  letters 
or  speeches,  but  the  mass  of  his  utterances  and  writings, 
public  and  private. 

What,  then,  were  the  causes  which  hindered  Lord  Aber- 
deen from  taking  that  leading  part  in  public  life  which 
might  have  been  expected  from  such  a  man  as  he  has  been 
described  to  be  ?  and  why,  if  his  influence  was  really  great, 
was  it  so  little  visible  ?  The  latter  question  admits  of  easy 
answer.  His  influence  was  exerted  over  those  who  were 
themselves  leaders  of  opinion  and  in  direct  relation  with 
the  general  public,  to  which  he  was  himself  almost  a  stranger. 
But  the  reasons  which  led  to  his  comparative  abstention 
from  an  active  part  in  English  politics  are  not  so  manifestly 
apparent,  and  it  will  be  necessary  to  dwell  on  them  at 
somewhat  greater  length,  if  Lord  Aberdeen's  character  and 
life  are  to  be  understood  by  the  readers  of  this  volume. 

The  exercise  of  power  was  not  distasteful  to  Lord 
Aberdeen,  but  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  be  eager  in  its 
pursuit  or  imperious  in  its  possession.  He  estimated  his 
own  abilities  humbly,  and  shrank  with  diffidence  from 
pressing  the  adoption  of  his  own  views  on  others,  even 
when  he  had  no  distrust  of  their  soundness.  He  disliked 
and  shunned  publicity,  and  possessed  no  oratorical  power. 
These  circumstances  in  themselves  are  sufficient  to  account 
for  his  not  taking  a  prominent  share  in  the  active  struggles 
of  English  political  parties,  but  they  were  not  the  only 
reasons  which  made  it  impossible  that  he  should  do  so. 

It  is  probable  that  the  circumstances  of  his  education 
had  in  more  than  one  direction  an  effect  unfavourable  to 
his  career.     The  ten  years  of  his  life  from  1796  to  1806 — 


312  LORD   ABERDEEN 

that  is  to  say,  from  his  twelfth  to  his  twenty-second  year — 
were  passed  in  the  closest  domestic,  intimacy  with  Mr. 
Pitt,  and  under  the  commanding  ascendency  of  that  great 
minister.  Accustomed  to  look  up  to  him  on  all  occasions, 
it  became  natural  to  Lord  Aberdeen  to  recognise  the  guid- 
ance of  external  authority ;  and  through  life  he  was  more  in- 
clined to  defer,  in  action,  to  the  advice  of  others,  confidently 
given,  than  o  rely  on  his  own  better  judgment.  It  thus 
happened  that  men  of  inferior  powers  of  mind,  but  of 
stronger  will,  not  unfrequently  imposed  on  him  their  views 
n  action,  without  convincing  his  understanding.  Again,  this 
intimacy  initiated  him  from  his  earliest  years  into  the  highest 
regions  of  politics  and  the  inner  working  of  the  Executive 
Government,  all  the  members  of  which  were,  in  the  familiar 
unreserve  of  private  life,  subject  to  his  close  observation. 
The  natural  result  of  such  a  training  (as  has  been  seen 
in  other  cases)  is  to  induce  comparative  indifference  to  the 
lower  walks  and  prizes  of  political  life,  and  a  habit  of  mind 
slightly  contemptuous  as  to  the  more  busy  partisans  in 
the  rank  and  file  of  public  men. 

I  am  disposed  to  assign  yet  another  cause  for  Lord 
Aberdeen's  quiescent  attitude  in  domestic  politics.  It  is 
that  with  regard  to  them  he  was  (though  unconsciously)  for 
the  greater  part  of  his  earlier  life  in  an  essentially  false  position. 
Educated  by  Pitt  and  Dundas,  married  at  twenty-one  to  a 
daughter  of  the  Marquess  of  Abercorn,  Lord  Aberdeen  grew 
up  in  the  centre  of  the  Tory  party,  and  in  habits  of  associa- 
tion and  friendship  with  the  leading  members  of  that  party 
and  their  families.  He  acquiesced  in  the  main  in  their 
guidance,  from  which  it  would  have  required  a  breach  with 
his  closest  personal  friends  to  free  himself ;  but  it  is  clear 
that  his  allegiance  was  the  result  of  habit,  and  something 
like    indolence  of   will,   rather    than   of   strong  personal 


HIS   LIBERAL  VIEWS  313 

conviction  ;  nor  did  he  shun  association  and  friendship 
with  those  of  I^iberal  poHtics.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
constant  habitues  of  Holland  House.  He  formed  a  part 
of  the  intimate  society  which  gathered  round  the  Duke  of 
Devonshire,  Lord  Lansdowne,  and  other  Whig  magnates  \ 
and  his  correspondence  shows  that  to  some  of  his  staunch 
Tory  friends,  such  as  Lord  Bathurst,  Lord  Westmorland, 
Lord  Castlereagh,  and  others,  including  even  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  the  (in  their  eyes)  unorthodox  character  of  his  political 
opinions  was  a  source  of  trouble  and  vexation  ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand.  Liberals  who  associated  with  him  on  terms 
of  intimacy  were  astonished  (like  Sir  Robert  Wilson)  by  the 
discovery  that  Lord  Aberdeen  was,  all  unconsciously,  '  a  true 
Liberal.'  Of  course,  in  estimating  the  Liberal  tendencies  of 
any  man  of  the  Georgian  era,  the  date  at  which  he  lived  must 
be  taken  into  consideration.  It  would  be  as  unreasonable 
to  test  the  opinions  of  a  statesman  of  the  earlier  years  of  the 
now  expiring  century  by  the  political  shibboleths  of  its  last 
decade  as  it  would  be  to  gauge  the  views  of  a  public  man 
of  Queen  Elizabeth's  day  by  the  Revolution  principles  of 
1688. 

While  the  irresponsible  political  writer  or  speaker  is 
bound  by  no  restraints  save  those  of  logic,  the  action  of  a 
practical  politician  is  limited  by  the  prospect  which  exists 
of  giving  effect  to  his  views.  Whatever  their  abstract 
opinions,  few  men  occupying  high  and  responsible  posi- 
tions, or  anticipating  their  occupation,  advocate  measures 
of  which  they  know  the  adoption  to  be  impracticable  ;  for 
they  are  aware  that  in  so  doing  they  but  waste  their  time 
and  weaken  their  influence.  Many  of  the  reforms  which 
*  we  have  since  seen  easily  accomplished  were  altogether  un- 
attainable in  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  present  century, 
and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  they  attracted  any 


3: 14  LORD  ABERDEEN 

considerable  share  of  Lord  Aberdeen's  attention.  In  some 
respects,  indeed,  his  views  might  seem  inconsistent  with 
Liberal  opinions.  He  had  no  idolatrous  reverence  for  par- 
liamentary institutions,  as  they  exist,  and  still  less  for  the 
system  of  party  government.  He  was  keenly  alive  to  their 
weak  points,  regarding  them  as  probably  the  best,  but  not 
the  only,  forms  under  which  a  free  people  could  conduct 
its  own  affairs  ;  and  he  thought  them  likely  to  undergo  grave 
modification  ;  for  he  foresaw — which  few  of  his  contempo- 
raries did — that  the  growth  of  democratic  influences  would, 
in  the  end,  destroy  the  independent  power  of  the  House  of 
Commons  as  effectually  as  that  of  the  House  of  Lords, 
though  more  slowly.  Nor  was  he  insensible  to  the  dangers 
attending  changes  which,  on  the  whole,  he  regarded  with 
satisfaction.  His  faith  in  the  wisdom  of  popular  decisions 
on  subjects  but  imperfectly  understood  did  not  equal  his 
confidence  in  the  soundness  and  honesty  of  the  feelings 
which  prompted  them.  He  was  fond  of  saying  that,  while 
the  two  most  foolish  measures  of  the  first  twenty  years  of 
the  present  reign — the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Act  and  the 
Crimean  War — were  precisely  those  which  had  been  de- 
manded with  the  most  entire  unanimity,  the  removal  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  disabilities  could  not  have  been  effected 
had  a  previous  appeal  to  a  popular  vote  been  requisite. 
At  the  same  time,  even  a  slight  glance  at  Lord  Aberdeen's 
career  suffices  to  show  how  far  removed  he  was  from  shar- 
ing the  narrow-minded  views  of  the  Tory  party  of  his  time. 

He  was,  almost  from  the  first,  a  steady  advocate  of 
Roman  Catholic  Emancipation.  The  liberality  of  his  views 
on  foreign  politics  scandalised  his  diplomatic  colleagues  on 
the  Continent,  and  those  views  were  among  the  reasons 
for  his  refusal  of  further  diplomatic  employment  when 
urged  to  take  part  in  the  Congress  of  Vienna.     In  1814  he 


POLITICAL   PRESCIENCE  3I5 

had  pressed  on  Castlereagh  the  claims  of  Poland  to  inde- 
pendence, and  procured  from  Metternich  the  promise  of  the 
retrocession  of  those  provinces  of  the  Republic  which  had 
fallen  to  the  share  of  Austria.  In  1820  he  was  barely  dis- 
suaded from  joining  the  Philhellenic  Society,  and  was  so  dis- 
suaded only  by  the  knowledge  that  it  would  involve  a  breach 
with  friends  among  whom  he  habitually  lived.  He  drew 
from  the  Duke  of  Wellington  a  not  very  willing  consent  to 
the  immediate  recognition  of  the  French  Revolution  of  1830. 
The  'Aberdeen  Acts'  of  1825  were  the  first  blow  struck 
against  the  Scotch  system  of  entails,  and  acquire  by  their 
results  a  significance  far  from  suspected  by  those  who  were 
induced  to  pass  them,  but  which,  there  is  evidence  to  show, 
was  not  altogether  absent  from  the  mind  of  their  author. 
He  gave,  it  is  true,  a  silent  vote  with  his  party  against  the 
Reform  Bill,  but  saw  that  its  adoption  was  inevitable,  and 
saw  it  without  alarm  ;  and  at  a  later  period,  while  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  still  opposed  to  any  further  reform  in  Parlia- 
ment, Lord  Aberdeen  was  prepared  to  welcome  a  large 
extension  of  the  franchise,  and  saw  no  serious  objection  to 
the  adoption  of  the  Ballot.  His  conversion  to  the  doctrines 
of  Free  Trade  probably  preceded  that  of  Sir  Robert  Peel ; 
and  his  voice  was  the  first,  and,  as  it  proved,  almost  the  only 
one,  given  in  Cabinet  in  support  of  the  abolition  of  the  Corn 
Laws  when  first  proposed  by  Peel.  So  far  back  as  1844 
he  expressed  opinions  adverse  to  the  continued  existence  of 
the  Irish  Church  Establishment,  and  had  shown  marked 
disapproval  of  the  traditional  policy  of  England  towards 
Ireland. 

But  there  was  a  deeper  cause  for  Lord  Aberdeen's  poHtical 
inactivity  than  the  influences  of  constitutional  temperament, 
early  education,  and  social  environment.  From  an  early 
period  of  his  life  a  sense  (never  altogether  absent,  though 


3l6  LORD  ABERDEEN 

more  or  less  strongly  felt  at  different  times)  of  the  comparative 
unimportance,  in  the  great  march  of  history,  of  those  events 
which  seemed  to  his  contemporaries  absorbing  and  all- 
important,  prevented  his  ever  throwing  himself  into  party 
contests  with  that  earnestness  and  exaggeration  of  feeling 
which  are  probably  essential  to  political  success.  He,  of 
course,  recognised  that  there  were  now  and  again  moments 
of  supreme  importance,  on  the  decisions  of  which  the  fate  of 
future  generations  might  depend  ;  but  he  far  more  keenly 
realised  the  truth  that,  speaking  generally,  the  course  of  the 
world  is  not  substantially  affected  by  the  adoption  or 
rejection  of  particular  legislative  measures,  or  by  the  main- 
tenance or  abolition  of  such  and  such  a  part  of  the  machin- 
ery of  government,  however  great  the  interest  such  questions 
may  momentarily  excite. 

Many  prominent  politicians  (probably  the  great  majority) 
sincerely  believe  that  the  contests  in  which  they  take  a  part 
really  are  (as  they  are  often  said  to  be)  of  '  unparalleled ' 
importance,  and  that,  while  the  party  to  which  they  belong 
is  uniformly  right  in  its  conclusions  and  actions,  that  to 
which  they  are  opposed  is  as  invariably  wrong.  Even  when 
these  sentiments  are  not  sincerely  felt,  it  seems  essential  for 
party  purposes  to  affect  them.  But  to  Lord  Aberdeen  it 
was  as  impossible  to  affect  sentiments  he  did  not  really  feel 
as  it  was  to  raise  trifles  of  the  hour  to  the  level  of  events 
of  world-wide  or  even  national  importance.  He  found  it 
impossible  to  suppose  that  the  parties  of  his  own  day  were 
divided  by  a  more  accurate  balance  of  right  and  wrong  than 
those  of  other  ages  had  been.  He  held,  with  the  pro- 
foundest  conviction,  that  posterity  would  recognise  in  them 
the  same  admixture  of  truth  with  error,  the  same  blending 
of  honest  conclusions  and  erroneous  judgment,  the  same 
alloy  of  selfishness  and  meanness,  which  have  marked  the 


ATTITUDE   TO   POLITICAL  OPPONENTS        317 

parties  of  the  past,  and  will  mark  those  of  all  future  time. 
'  No  one  is  so  good,  and  no  one  is  so  bad,  as  he  seems,' 
was  one  of  his  favourite  sayings.  He  was,  in  this  spirit, 
almost  always  ready  to  place  the  most  favourable  interpre- 
tation on  the  acts  and  professions  of  political  opponents 
and  personal  antagonists.  Indeed  it  cannot,  I  think,  be 
denied  that  he  carried  this  disposition  to  excess,  and  that 
his  habitually  indulgent  judgment  (or,  at  least,  treatment)  of 
others  was  a  weakness,  sometimes  attended  with  unfortunate 
results  ;  while  his  tendency  to  minimise  the  importance  of 
any  given  course  of  action  as  of  real  moment  may  have 
involved,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  mischief  to  the  public 
interests,  and  injury  to  his  own  fame.  Nor  can  it  be 
doubted  that  the  dominion  of  such  sentiments  not  only 
barred  him  from  the  eager  pursuit  of  power,  but  when,  with- 
out seeking  it,  power  fell  into  his  hands,  went  far  to  render 
its  long  retention  by  him  impossible. 

At  the  same  time,  this  defect  was  nearly  connected 
with  that  perfect  toleration  which  on  all  questions,  whether 
civil  or  religious,  he  both  felt  and  practised.  When,  in 
1850,  Lord  John  Russell  obeyed,  and  stimulated,  the 
popular  demand  for  legislation  inconsistent  with  the  spirit 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Emancipation  Act,  Lord  Aberdeen, 
with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  unpopularity  he  incurred,  and 
in  the  firm  behef  that  he  was  thereby  excluding  himself  for 
ever  from  official  life,  led  the  opposition  to  the  Ecclesias- 
tical Titles  Bill, — a  measure  which  its  author  himself  lived 
to  regret,  and  to  see  repealed.  His  grounds  for  resentment 
against  the  Scotch  Free  Church  leaders  were  numerous,  but 
he  busied  himself  to  procure  sites  for  their  schools  and 
churches,  when  difficulties  were  interposed  in  the  way  of  their 
acquisition.  His  respect  for  opinions  which  he  did  not 
share  was  sincere,  and  his  forgiveness  of  political  injuries 


3l8  LORD   ABERDEEN 

was  complete.  In  1846  he  exerted  himself  to  make  the 
appointment  of  Lord  Palmerston  as  Foreign  Secretary  ac- 
ceptable at  Continental  courts,  with  an  earnestness  which 
he  himself  doubted  whether  Palmerston  would  understand, 
and  which,  in  the  like  case,  Palmerston  probably  would  not 
have  shown.  And  when,  in  1855,  he  was  succeeded  as 
Prime  Minister,  as  he  had  been  at  the  Foreign  Office,  by 
the  same  almost  lifelong  rival,  he  certainly  took  more 
trouble  to  facilitate  the  accession  of  the  latter  to  office  than 
he  had  ever  taken  to  promote  his  own.  Lord  John  Russell's 
sudden  desertion  gave  him  good  reason  to  complain,  but 
the  complaint  was  never  uttered. 

In  dwelling  on  the  toleration  shown  by  Lord  Aberdeen 
I  have  not  only  wandered  from  my  immediate  subject — 
the  causes  of  his  obscurity  before  the  public — but  have  been 
led  to  touch  on  qualities  which  belong  to  personal  character 
rather  than  to  public  life. 

The  private  life  of  Lord  Aberdeen  was  hardly  less 
marked  by  reticence  and  silence  than  his  public  career. 
The  almost  feminine  tenderness  of  his  disposition  was 
hidden  under  a  cold  and  somewhat  stern  exterior.  Even 
among  his  own  relations  there  were  those  who  never 
penetrated  beneath  the  surface,  and  deemed  him  the 
proud,  impassive  man  the  world  supposed  him  to  be. 
He  stood  aside,  perhaps  too  decidedly,  from  what  appeared 
to  him  unprofitable  intercourse,  and  thereby  naturally  in- 
curred misconstruction  and  resentment.  He  seemed  de- 
sirous of  influencing  only  those  who  could  understand  him, 
though,  when  he  did  exert  himself  to  charm  or  persuade, 
he  was  almost  invariably  successful. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  case  in  earlier  years,  his 
stores  of  various  knowledge  were  in  later  life  but  seldom 
voluntarily  displayed,  or  his  opinions  on  speculative  subjects 


EXACTITUDE  OF  HIS  LITERARY  KNOWLEDGE   319 

expressed  unasked.  No  man  had  less  the  temper  of  a 
proselytiser.  The  death  of  his  idoHsed  first  wife — in  his 
eyes  '  the  most  perfect  creature  ever  formed  by  the  power 
and  wisdom  of  God ' — followed  as  it  was  by  that  of  all  her 
children,  caused  him  grief  never  afterwards  wholly  absent, 
which  seemed  to  have  imposed  on  him  habitual  silence,  and 
driven  him  to  a  life  of  habitual  self-communion.  His  highly 
cultivated  taste  could  not,  of  course,  be  hidden.  His  fellow- 
trustees  of  the  National  Gallery  acknowledged  in  him  one 
of  the  first  of  connoisseurs.  Among  the  trustees  of  the 
British  Museum,  whose  meetings  he  regularly  attended,  no 
voice  had  greater  weight.  Rogers  consulted  him  as  to  the 
melody  of  his  verses,  Henry  Taylor  in  the  selection  of  the 
subjects  of  his  poems.  Nothing  could  be  more  curious 
than  the  way  in  which  colleagues  and  friends,  whenever  at  a 
loss,  came  to  him  for  information  on  the  most  varied  topics, 
and  rarely  came  in  vain.  But  while  ever  ready,  without 
any  apparent  disinclination,  to  communicate  to  others  the 
knowledge  he  possessed,  his  habitual  attitude  was  one  of 
reticence.  He  rarely  spoke  of  classical  or  archaeological 
subjects,  though,  if  asked  a  question,  he  would  with  apparent 
ease,  and  without  reference  to  books,  resolve  at  once  the 
most  puzzling  questions  of  ancient  Greek  currency  or 
geography,  or  explain  differences  in  the  nomenclature  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Demes  of  Attica.  It  was  the  same 
with  the  annals  of  European  States,  the  genealogy  of  illus- 
trious houses,  the  growth  of  schools  of  painting,  or  of  typo- 
graphy ;  with  every  topic,  in  short,  connected  with  art  or 
history.  His  memory  was  a  storehouse  of  the  most  varied 
and  accurate  information  in  almost  all  branches  of  litera- 
ture. Those  immediately  about  him  were  constantly 
surprised  by  some  new  discovery.  The  visit  to  Haddo 
of  a  friend  of  botanical  tastes  showed  that  the  botanical 


320  LORD   ABERDEEN 

facts  around  him  had  been  closely  watched,  although 
for  years  he  had  shown  no  evidence  of  such  obser- 
vation. He  gathered  for  his  visitor,  as  they  walked  along, 
every  rare  and  curious  plant,  however  inconspicuous  or 
obscure,  and  knew  exactly  where  every  scarce  moss  or  fern 
or  flower  was  likely  to  be  found.  Day  after  day  his  eye 
must  have  noted,  and  his  memory  stored  up  these  observa- 
tions, of  which  he  made  no  mention,  even  by  a  word,  to  the 
wholly  unbotanical  circle  around  him.  On  another  occasion 
I  remember  my  own  surprise  at  hearing  him  quote,  and  dis- 
cuss with  Dean  Milman,  the  later  classical  and  Byzantine 
authors,  with  the  same  intimate  familiarity  as  if  they  had 
belonged  to  the  highest  age  of  classical  literature.  Sir  James 
Lacaita  expressed  amazement,  as  Silvio  Pellico  had  done 
before  him,  at  his  unexpectedly  thorough  knowledge  of 
Italian  poets  ;  and  the  casual  remark  of  a  French  friend 
brought  to'  light  his  singular  acquaintance  with,  as  M.  de 
Barante  phrased  it,  '  every  French  author  who  wrote  before 
the  Revolution.'  It  was  not  the  possession  of  these  stores 
of  information,  in  which  (though  equalled  by  but  few  so 
busily  engaged  in  public  life)  he  was  not  singular,  but  their 
hidden  possession,  which  was  so  remarkable  a  feature  in 
him,  and  which  must  not  be  left  unnoticed  if  he  is  to  be 
truly  understood. 

Occupied  as  his  public  life  chiefly  was  by  foreign  politics 
uninteresting  to  the  mass  of  Englishmen,  imperceptible  to 
the  common  eye  as  was  his  influence,  unostentatious  as  he 
was  in  the  possession  of  his  acquirements  and  in  his  mode 
of  life,  it  is  not  surprising  that  Lord  Aberdeen  should  have 
been  misunderstood,  underrated,  and  comparatively  over- 
looked by  the  general  public  in  his  lifetime.  Through  life, 
it  was  the  greatest  and  the  best  of  those  who  knew  him  who 
esteemed  him  most  highly.     'Lord  Aberdeen  is  the  most 


HIS   LETTERS  32 1 

entirely  virtuous  man  I  know — he  has  all  virtues,  I  think,' 
said  the  Prince  Consort  to  Bishop  Wilberforce.  '  II  est  im- 
possible,' wrote  M.  Guizot  of  him  from  Haddo,  *  de  laisser 
percer  plus  d'esprit  et  de  coeur  a  travers  des  formes  lentes, 
froides,  et  tantot  un  peu  embarrassees,  tantot  un  peu 
ironiques.  II  a  I'esprit  aussi  libre  et  aussi  original  que 
sense.  II  pense  et  s'interesse  a  tout,  sans  avoir  Fair  d'y 
toucher.'  The  Duke  of  Wellington,  a  man  not  given  to 
idle  or  insincere  compliment,  when  urging  him  to  undertake 
important  work  for  which  Lord  Aberdeen  thought  himself 
unfitted,  used  the  striking  words,  that  he  had  shown  that 
whatever  he  undertook  he  could  do  better  than  others  ;  and 
Lady  Peel,  only  a  few  days  after  her  husband's  death, 
wrote  that  Sir  Robert  Peel  had  '  always  talked '  of  Lord 
Aberdeen  to  her  '  as  the  friend  for  whom  he  had  the  sin- 
cerest  affection,  and  whom  he  estimated  higher  than  any 
other.' 

Whether  I  shall  have  succeeded  in  giving  to  the  readers 
of  this  volume  a  juster  notion  of  his  career  than  that  pre- 
valent among  the  public  in  his  own  day  is,  I  fear,  more  than 
questionable.  Confinement  to  the  narrow  limits  of  a  *  short ' 
biography  is  decidedly  unfavourable  to  success  in  the  attempt. 
Such  a  character  is  not  one  of  which  a  bold  and  striking 
outline  can  be  drawn  in  a  few  telling  sentences.  Its  lights 
and  shadows  can  only  be  painted  by  a  multitude  of 
delicate  touches  and  the  accumulation  of  many  minute 
details.  Any  such  accumulation  the  space  at  my  command 
forbids.  For  example,  those  who  read  any  small  selection 
only  from  Lord  Aberdeen's  letters  will  not  obtain  the  least 
insight  into  one  of  their  most  remarkable  characteristics. 
.Those  who  look  into  them  for  the  scandal  of  the  day, 
or  for  sharp  criticism  of  his  political  opponents,  will  no 
doubt  at  once  find  themselves  disappointed  ;  but  it  is  only 

Y 


322  LORD   ABERDEEN 

after  reading,  as  I  have  done,  many  thousands  of  his 
public  and  private  letters  that  it  becomes  apparent  that 
they  never  contain  any  ill-natured  remark  about  others,  or 
any  story  told  to  another's  prejudice.  I  doubt  whether 
the  same  can  be  said  of  the  correspondence  of  many  other 
men,  of  whose  papers,  public  and  private,  so  large  a  portion 
has  been  preserved.  I  do  not  think  this  peculiarity  was 
due  to  any  formed  and  conscious  resolution  ;  it  was  the 
natural  result  of  his  habit  and  tone  of  mind.  Again,  the 
multitude  of  quarrels  and  differences,  both  among  those 
connected  with  him  and  among  comparative  strangers, 
which  he  composed,  cannot  without  tediousness,  or  indeed 
without  impropriety,  be  recorded.  And  yet  it  is  hardly 
possible  to  do  justice  to  his  love  of  peace,  without  some 
knowledge  of  his  unsparing  efforts  to  promote  peace 
among  others,  and  his  own  resolute  avoidance  of  all  strife 
or  quarrel,  even  when  he  felt  most  keenly  that  wrong  had 
been  done  him. 

I  have  preferred,  in  what  I  have  written,  to  use, 
wherever  it  was  possible,  the  language  of  others  rather  than 
my  own  ;  for  of  all  the  difficulties  which  beset  my  task 
none  are  greater  than  those  caused  by  the  relation  in  which 
I  stand  to  Lord  Aberdeen.  It  is  true  that  the  gradual  open- 
ing of  my  own  mind,  and  the  closeness  of  the  intercourse 
between  us,  imperceptibly  dissolved  the  reverential  and  dis- 
tant awe  which,  I  confess,  was  the  attitude  of  my  child- 
hood towards  my  father.  With  sensations  of  surprise  I 
continually  discovered  his  possession  of  stores  of  know- 
ledge previously  unsuspected,  and  fresh  beauties  of  cha- 
racter, each  forging  a  new  link  in  the  chain  of  affection, 
till  finally  that  perfect  and  rare  mutual  confidence  was 
established  which  existed  between  us  for  the  last  ten 
or  twelve  years  of  his  life,  and  which  enables  me  to  speak 


THE   CLAIMS   OF   HISTORICAL  TRUTH  323 

with  some  decision  both  as  to  his  acts  and  his  opinions. 
But  while  I  admit  that  circumstances  have  given  me  some 
special  advantages  for  laying  before  the  world  a  picture, 
however  imperfect,  of  what  Lord  Aberdeen  was,  rather 
than  a  mere  narrative  of  what  he  did,  I  trust  that  my 
readers  will  not  forget  the  restraints  which  those  very  cir* 
cumstances  themselves  impose.  He  who  undertakes  to  write 
the  life  of  a  public  man  incurs  obligations  to  historical 
truth  which  are  paramount,  and  must  at  any  cost  and  any 
risk  be  discharged.  But  the  obligations  of  filial  piety  are 
not  less  imperative  ;  and  though  in  the  delineation  of 
personal  character,  if  attempted  at  all,  affection  must  not  be 
allowed  to  conceal  weakness,  nor  fear  of  the  imputation 
of  bad  taste  allowed  to  obscure  merit,  yet  it  can  never 
be  forgotten  [that  censure  or  commendation  of  a  father 
by  a  son  alike  tremble  on  the  verge  of  disrespect. 


INDEX 


ABE 


ASI 


Abercorn,  Lady,  284 

Abercorn,  Lord,  13,  66 ;  death  of,  67  ; 
marriage  of,  67,  107 

Aberdeen,  the  first  Earl  of,  3  ;  second 
Earl,  4  ;  third  Earl,  5,  7 

Aberdeen,  Lord,  birth  and  childhood  of, 
4-6 ;  at  Harrow,  5,  6  ;  guardians,  6  ; 
at  Cambridge,  6-9,  14  ;  visits  Paris 
and  Florence,  9  ;  travels  in  the  Levant, 
9-11  ;  at  Haddo  House,  11-13,  67, 
68,  188-194,  293-295,  297 ;  at  Bent- 
ley  Priory,  13,  14  ;  fondness  for  act- 
ing, 14  ;  marriage  to  Lady  Catherine 
Hamilton,  14,  15  ;  death  of  Lady,  18, 
19  ;  extracts  from  — 's  diary,  16,  17,  43; 
proposes  to  stand  for  Cambridge  Uni- 
versity, 17  ;  opening  of  public  life,  18; 
daughters  of,  18,  69,  107,  108 ;  and 
events  in  Sicily,  19 ;  accepts  embassy 
to  Austria,  20  ;  instructions  to,  21  ; 
journey  to  Teplitz,  21-23  ;  treaty  with 
Austria,  24-28  ;  opinion  of  the  Em- 
peror Francis,  29  ;  at  Leipsic,  31-33  ; 
and  the  horrors  of  war,  33,  34  ;  peace 
negotiations  at  Frankfort,  34-42,  48  ; 
and  Sir  Robert  Wilson,  42-46  ;  opinion 
as  to  the  capitulation  of  Dresden,  46, 
47  ;  and  character  of  Prince  Metter- 
nich,  47,  48  ;  and  Swiss  neutrality, 
50-52  ;  the  advance  into  France,  53, 
54  ;  at  the  congress  of  Chatillon,  55- 
63  ;  peace  of  Paris,  64,  65 ;  second 
marriage  of,  66-69  ;  the  Greek  insur- 
rection,70-73  ;  and  Scotch  entails,  73- 
75  ;  appointed  Foreign  Secretary,  75, 
102,  106,  no,  120;  war  between  Russia 
and  Turkey,  76-85  ;  the  sovereignty 
of  Greece,  87-89  ;  affairs  of  Portugal, 
89-96  ;  and  the  French  expedition  to 
Algiers,  96-98  ;  French  revolution  of 
1830,  99-102  ;  the  Catholic  question, 
103  ;  the  Reform  Bill,  104-106,  113  ; 
family  bereavements,  107-109  ;  ap- 
pointed Secretary  for  the  Colonies,  iio- 
113;  first  meeting  with  Mr.  Gladstone, 
III  ;  Lord  Grey  and,  112  ;  and  Lord 
Palmerston's  foreign  policy,  113,  114  ; 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  and,  114-116  ; 


head  of  the  Scotch  Conservatives,  116, 
117  ;  sons  of,  117  ;  and  foreign  affairs, 
118-120,  152-187  ;  and  Scotch  Church 
affairs,  121-151  ;  and  M.  Guizot,  153- 
158  ;  and  Greek  revolution  of  1843, 
159-161  ;  the  Spanish  marriages,  162- 
i73>  194-196 ;  and  France,  173-177, 
196  ;  and  the  United  States,  178-184  ; 
and  Brazil,  185  ;  the  repeal  of  the 
Corn  Laws,  185  ;  resignation  of,  186, 
187,  284-286  ;  and  death  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  197 ;  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles 
Bill,  197-202,  218  ;  and  the  Neapolitan 
letters,  203-205  ;  and  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell, 206-215,  265-286;  Prime  Ministei , 
214  ;  cabinet  of,  215-217  ;  session  of 
1853,  217,  218  ;  the  Crimean  war, 
219-264,  302-304  ;  and  the  Duke  of 
Bedford,  284-285  ;  assists  Lord  Palm- 
erston,  288-290  ;  the  Queen  and,  290- 
292  ;  Christmas  Sermon,  301-302  ;  ill- 
ness and  death  of,  305,  306  ;  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's estimate  of,  308-309  ;  general 
sketch  of  character,  309-322.  See  also 
Bills,  Essay,  Letters,  Speeches, 
&c. 
Aberdeen,  Lady  (Lady  Catherine  Ham- 
ilton), 14,  15  ;  death  of,  18,  19 
Aberdeen,  Lady  (the  second),  66-69,  "8 

death  of,  108 
Aberdeen,  the  Countess  Dowager,  193 
Adelaide  Queen,  at  Bentley  Prior,  67 
Adrianople,  treaty  of,  77,   82-85 
Albany,  Countess  of,  at  Florence,  9 
Albert,  Prince,  and  Lord  Aberdeen,  185, 
214,  305,  320  ;  and  the  Spanish  mar- 
riages, 195  ;  attacks  on,  274 
Alexander  L,  Emperor,  50,  51,  56-58 
Alfieri,  9 

Algiers,  French  expedition  to,  96  98 
Ali  Pasha,  of  Janina,  11 
Alma,  victory  of  the,  252 
America  and  England,  178-184 
Amherst,  Lord,  113 
Argyll,  Duke  of,  147,  148,  202,  203,  288 

293 
Ashburton,  Lord,  178-180 
Asia  Minor,  travels  in,  10 


326 


LORD   ABERDEEN 


ATH 

Athens,  Lord  Aberdeen  at,  lo 

Austria,  Lord  Aberdeen  accepts  embassy 

to,    20  ;  treaty  with,  23-28,  48  ;   and 

the  Russo-Turkish  war  1829,  79,  80  ; 

and   the  Crimean   war,  246-247,   255, 

294 


Baird,  Sir  David,  4 
Ball,  Sir  Alexander,  10 

Baltic  Sea,  fleets  in  the,  252 

Barante,  M.  de,  320 

Barbacena,  M.  de,  91,  92 

Bathurst,  Lord,  72,  7^,  87,  313 

Bavaria,  26 

Beaconsfield,  Lord,  see  Disraeli,  B. 

Beauharnais,  Eugene,  61 

Beauvale,  Lord,  14 

Bedford,  Duke  of,  213,  214,  266,  284,  300 

Belgium,  insurrection  in,  lor,  102 

Bellegardcj  Marshal,  44,  46 

Bentley  Priory,  13,  14,  67,  108 

Berlin,  22 

Bernadotte,  Prince  Royal  of  Sweden,  27, 
40,  57 

Bernard,  of  Tuscany,  Archduke,  88 

Bills  introduced  by  Lord  Aberdeen, 
Scotch  entails,  73-75  ;  Scotch  Church, 
137  ;  Brazil  Slave  Trade,  187 

Black  Forest,  the,  50 

Black  Sea   fleets  in  the,  244-250 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  9  ;  and  Germany, 
so,  23,  25,  35-65  ;  the  Emperor  of 
Russia  and,  27;  and  General  Merfeldt, 

^32,  36,  37      . 

Bonaparte,  Prmce  Louis  Napoleon,  184 

Boundary  question.  United  States  and 
British  Provinces,  178-181 

Bourbon  restoration,  the,  63,  64 

Brazil,  England  and,  184,  185 

Bresson,  Count,  166-170 

British  Museum,  18,  310 

Buccleuch,  Duke  of,  116 

Buchan  Ness,  192 

Budberg,  Baron,  230 

Bulwer,  Sir  E.  L.,  296 

Bulwer,  Sir  Henry,  and  the  Spanish 
marriages,  164-172 

Burghersh,  Lord,  43-45,  see  Westmor- 
land. 


Cambridge,  Lord  Haddo  at,  6-9,  14; 
proposes  to  stand  for  University,  17 

Canada,  measures  for,  112,  113  ;  re- 
bellion of,  1838,  178 

Candlish,  Dr.,  202 

Canning,  Lord,  17,  75,  293,  305 

Canterbury,  Lord  Aberdeen  acts  at,  14 

Capo  d'Istrias,  88,  89 

Cardwell,  Mr.,  293 

Castlereagh,  Lord,  20,  25,  27,  28,  32,  39, 
41,  42,  44746,  49,  52,  54-64,  69-72, 313, 
315  ;  suicide  of,  73 

Cathcart,  Lord,  26,  36,  38,  39,  54,  65 

Catholic  question,  the,  103,  314,  317 ; 
Relief  Bill,  the,  201,  202 


EPH 

Caulaincourt,  at  the  Chruillon  congress, 
56,  63 

Chalmers,  Dr.,  and  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land, 123-128,  130-145 

Charles,  of  Mecklenburg,  Prince,  88 

Charles  X.,  King  of  France,  98-102 

Chatillon,  congress  of,  55-63 

Christina,  Queen,  169 

Church  of  Scotland,  see  Scotland 

Civis  Ro7nanus,  197 

'  Claim  of  Right,'  the,  149-151 

Clare  election,  the,  103 

Clarendon,  Lord,  223,  229,  234,  235, 
246,  254,  263,  269-273,  277,  280,  288, 
293 

Clerk,  Sir  George,  139 

Colonies,  Lord  Aberdeen  appointed 
Secretary  for  the,  no,  112,  113 

Congress  of  Chatillon,  the,  55-63 

Congress  of  Vienna,  69,  70 

Consort,  Prince,  see  Albert 

Constantine,  Grand  Duke,  34,  35 

Constantinople,  Russia  and,  219-246 

Corn  Laws,  repeal  of  the,  185,  307 

Correspondence  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  see 
Letters 

Cowley,  Lord,  79 

Crimean  war,  the,  216-264 


Dalling,  Lord,  170 

Dardanelles,   Russia    and   the,    78,   83, 

220-246 
Denmark,  France  and,  39,  40,  59 
Derby,    Lord,    206-209,    212,    215,    277, 

283,  287,  298-299 
Devonshire,  Duke  of,  313 
Disraeli,  Mr.,  212,  283,  310 
Don  Pacifico,  claims  of,  196,  197 
Dresden,  capitulation  of,  46,  47 
Drummond,  Henry,  9,  10 
Dudley,  Lord,  75 

Dundas,  Henry,  see  Melville,  Lord 
Dundas,  Lady  Jane,  5 


Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill,  197-202, 
218,  266,  317 

'  Edinburgh  Review,'  the  state  of  Europe 
in  1813,  41,  42 

Education  Bill,  282 

Pvgypt,  France  and,  118,  119 

Elbe  fortresses,  the,  36,  37 

Ellenborough,  Lord,  87,  183 

Emilius,  of  Hesse,  Prince,  88 

England,  and  Austria  in  1813,  24-27; 
peace  negotiations  at  Frankfort,  39  ; 
the  Chatillon  congress,  55-63  ;  and  the 
Russo-Turkish  war,  76-85  ;  and  Por- 
tugal, 89-96  ;  Lord  Aberdeen  and  the 
influence  of,  113,  X14;  and  France, 
153-158,  174-177  ;  and  the  Spanish 
marriages,  162-173  '<  United  States  and, 
178-184;  and  Brazil,  184,  185  ;  and  the 
Crimean  war,  219-264 

Ephesus,  Lord  Aberdeen  at,  10 


INDEX 


327 


ESS 

Essay  on  the  principles  of  Grecian  archi- 
tecture, 73 
Europe,  state  of,  in  1813,  ii-52 
Everett,  Mr.,  ici 


Florence,  Lord  Aberdeen  at,  9 
-Foreign  Secretary,  Lord   Aberdeen  as, 

75-102,  106,  no,  152-187 
Formatine,  valley  of,  190 
Fouch6,  65 

-France,  and  Austria,  23-28  ;   war  with 
Germany,    33-48  ;     advance    of    the 
allied   armies  into,   49-63  ;    peace   of 
Paris,   64,   65  ;    and    Algiers,   96-98  : 
revolution    of    1830,     99-102  ;     and 
Egypt,    119;    and    Syria,    120;    ana 
England,   153-158,   174-177  ;  and  the 
Spanish  marriages,  162-173,  195-196  ; 
revolution    of   1848,    196 ;    and    the 
Crimean  war,  219-264 
>Franchihe  in  Scotland,  106 
Francis,  Emperor,  25,  29,  34,  57 
-Frankfort,  peace  negotiations,  34-39 
Frederick  of  Orange,  Prince,  87 
Free  trade,  185,  212,  315 


•Galveston,  port  of,  182 

•George  IV.,  at  Edinburgh,  73 

German  character,  49,  50 

Germany  in  1813,  20  ;  war  with  France, 
33-63 

•Gladstone,  Mr.  W.  E.,  207-209,  211,  268, 
279,292-293,296-299 ;  Lord  Aberdeen's 
first  interview  with,  in  ;  and  Ecclesi- 
astical Titles  Bill,  198,  200 ;  Neapolitan 
letters,  203-205;  letter  to,  210;  Budget 
of,  216,  217  ;  and  the  Crimean  war, 
232,  233,  238-240,  248  ;  and  Mr. 
Kennedy,  279,  280 ;  letter  to  Lord 
Aberdeen,  292,  293  ;  and  Lord  Aber- 
deen's  character,  308-309 

•Gordon  family,  the,  i 

Gordon,  Duke  of,  death  of,  in  1836,  2 

Gordon,  Duchess  of,  13 

<70rdon,  Sir  George  (the  first  Earl  of 
Aberdeen),  2,  3 

Gordon,  Sir  John,  2 

Gordon,  Sir  R.,  14,  82,  85-87 

•Gordon,  Captain  Wm.,  106 

Gordon,  Lady  Alice,  107 

Gortchakoff,  Prince,  294 

Goulburn,  Mr.,  87 

•Graham,  Sir  James,  41,  148,  150,  174, 
175,  185,  195,  198,  200,  207-209,  211- 
213,  216,  222,  251,  259,  269-272,  273, 
280,  286,  293,  295,  300,  306 

•Granville,  Lord,  218,  273 

•Greece,  Lord  Aberdeen's  travels  in,  10; 

.  the  sovereignty  of,  86-89  ';  revolution 
of  1843,  159-161;  Don  Pacific©  claims, 
196,  197 

•Greek  msurrection,  the,  70-72,  76,  80,  84 
••Grey,   Lord,  105,  106;  (Lord  Howick), 
112,  113,  186 


LAI 


Grey,  Sir  George,  267 

Guizot,  M.,  119,  120,  154-158,  161,  177, 

186-188,  195,  196,  312  ;  visit  to  Haddo 

House,    117,   298  ;    and    the  Spanish 

marriages,  162-173 
Gurney,  Hudson,   7-9,   12,  19,   75,  no, 

III,  302 

Haddo,  Lord  George,  see  Aberdeen, 
Lord 

Haddo,  Lord  William,  son  of  the  first 
Lord  Aberdeen,  3,  4 

Haddo,  Lord,  sonof  Lord  Aberdeen,3oi, 
304  ;  coming  of  age,  117  ;  and  Lady, 
at  Blackheath,  185  ;  Lady ,  291 

Haddo,  Lady,mother  of  Lord  Aberdeen,4 

Haddo  House,  2,  11-13,  67,  68,  106,  109, 
117,  268  ;  life  at,  188-194,  301-305, 
319  ;  Sunday  at,  191,  192  ;  visit  of  the 
Queen  to,  305 

Hamilton,  Lord,  death  of,  66 

Hamikon,  Lady  Catherine  (Lady  Aber- 
deen), 14,  15  ;  death  of,  18,  19 

Hamilton,  Lady  Maria,  see  Letters  to 
death  of,  66 

Harrowby,  Lord,  63,  66 

Hajrter,  Mr.,  282 

Heligoland,  no 

Herbert,  Sidney,  185,  198,  207,  208,  293; 
letters  to,  289-290 

Heytesbury,  Lord,  78,  82 

Holland,  liberation  of,  39,  55 

Holland,  Lord,  85,  92 

Holland  House,  313 

Hope,  John,  74,  75 

Howick,  Lord,  see  Grey,  Lord 

Huntly,  Marquess  of,  2 

Huskisson,  Mr.,  75 


India,  Government  of,  Bill,  217,  300 

Indian  mutiny,  the,  305 

Ionian  Islands,  61 

Ireland,    218  ;    Church    Establishment, 

315 
Isabella  II.,  Queen,  162-173 
Italy,  revolution  in,  205,  207 

Jackson,  Sir  George,  46 

Jarnac,  Count  de,  article  in  '  Revue  des 

Deux  Mondes,'  188 
John  of  Saxony,  Prince,  88 
Joseph,  Emperor  Francis,  247 

Kellie  Castle,  2 

Kemble,  Mr.,  13 

Kennedy,  the  Rt.  Hon.  P.,  279 

Kinglake  and  the  Russo-Turkish  war, 

1829,  77 
Kinglake    History  of  the  Crimean  War,' 

310 
Knight,  Payne,  13 


Lacaita,  Sir  James,  320 
Lairds  of  Haddo,  2 


328 


LORD  ABERDEEN 


Lamartine,  M.  de,  120 

Lamb,  Sir  F.,  90,  91 

Lansdowne,  Lord,  212,  213,  218,  287, 
288,  313 

Ia  Rothiere,  victory  of,  57 

Lawrence,  Sir  Thomas,  at  Bentley 
Priory,  13,  14 

Legend  of  the  Gordon  family,  i 

Leipsic,  battle  of,  3i~33)  36,  37 

Leopold,  Prince,  88,  89 

Leopold  of  Saxe  Coburg,  Prince,  164-173 

LEstocq,  General,  22 

Letters  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  313  ;  to  Hud- 
son Gurney,  7,  8,  12,  19,  no,  in,  302  ; 
to  Rev.  G.  Whittington,  16 ;  to  Lord 
Abercorn,  20,  52,  64,  65 ;  to  Lady 
Maria  Hamilton,  21-23,  31-34,  48-5o> 
52,  53 ;  to  Lord  Castlereagh,  27-29,  42, 
44,  45,  47,  48,  55,  59-61 ;  from  Paris, 
63,  64  ;  on  the  Greek  insurrection, 
70-72  ;  on  the  capitulation  of  Dresden, 
46,  47  ;  re  Queen  Adelaide's  visit  to 
Bentley  Priory,  67  ;  to  Lady  Aberdeen, 
68  ;  to  John  Hope,  74,  75  ;  to  Lord 
Heytesbury,  78,  82  ;  to  Lord  Cowley, 
79  ;  to  Sir  R.  Gordon,  85-87 ;  re  affairs 
of  Portugal,  91,  92,  re  Algiers,  97  ;  to 
Rime,  de  Lieven,  no,  115, 116, 118-120, 
157)  158,  186,  187,  199,  200,  204  ;  to  the 
Dean  of  Faculty,  125-128 ;  to  Dr. 
Chalmers,  134, 135,  138  ;  to  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  159,  162,  163,  171,  174-177;  to 
Sir  E.  Lyons,  159-161  ;  to  M.  Guizot, 
161,  169,  186,  187;  to  Sir  Henry 
Bulwer,  165  ;  to  Prince  Albert,  195 ; 
to  youngest  son,  200,  202 ;  to  Mr. 
Gladstone,  210,  232-233,  238-240, 
296r297 ;  to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
210;  to  Sir  Jas.  Graham,  211,222,  223, 
269-270,  272 ;  to  Lord  Clarendon, 
223  ;  to  Lord  Palmerston,  235-238, 240 ; 
to  Lord  John  Russell,  269,  270, 
274,  275,  276  ;  to  the  Duke  of  Bedford, 
284,  285  ;  to  Sidney  Herbert,  289-290  ; 
to  Lady  Haddo,  291 

Levant,  travels  in  the,  9-11 

Lewis,  Sir  G.  C,  on  the  state  of  Europe 
in  1813,  41,  42 

L'Huys,  M.  Drouyn  de,  294 

Lieven,  Prince,  77,  78,  81 

Lieven,  Mme.de,  105,  106,  108,109,  115, 
it6,  118-120,  157,  158,  186,  187,  199, 
200,  204 
Liverpool,  Lord,  41,  62 
Lords,    House  of,   and   Reform  Bill  of 
1832,    105,  106  ;  and   Bills  passed  by 
the  Commons,  115 
Louis  XVI I L,  64 
Lyndhurst,  Lord,  259 
Lyons,  Sir  E.,  and  Greek  revolution  of 
1843,  159-161 


McLeod,  acquittal  of,  U.S.  and,  178 
Malta,  Lord  Aberdeen  at,  10 
Maximilian,  Archduke,  88 
Mehemed  AH  Pasha,  96 


Melbourne,  Lord,  at  Bentley  Priory,  14  ; 
government  of,  114  ;  and  Scottish 
Church  Bill,  134,  141,  142,  144  ; 
Ministry  of,  152,  153 

Melville,  Lord,  5-7,  11,  13,  15-17,  304 

Menschikoff,  Prince,  219-222,  224,  236 

Merfeldt,  General  Count,  30,  32,  36,  37 

Metternich,  Prince,  24-27,  30,  35-38,  40, 
44,  51,  54,  79,  80,  90,  96,  315  ;  charac- 
ter of,  47,  48  ;  and  the  treaty  of  Adrian- 
ople,  82,  83 

Mexico  and  Texas,  181-184 

Miguel,  Dom,  90-96 

Militia  Bill,  206 

Milman,  Dean,  311 

Montpensier,  Duke  of,  163-173,  195 

Muir,  Dr.,  137,  138 

Murat,  21,  39,  40 


Naples,  prisoners  at,  203-205 
Napoleon,  Louis  and  the  Crimean  war, 

220-246 
National  Gallery,  the,  310 
Neapolitan  letters,  203-205 
Nesselrode,  Count,    26,    27,    35-38,    54, 

220-222,  225,  226 
Newcastle,  Duke  of,  i98_,  207-210,  218, 

273,  278,  281-283  ;  declines  office,  199^ 

200 
Newspaper      correspondents      in      the 

Crimean  war,  261,  262 
Nicholas,  Emperor,  78,  80,  82,  224-264 
Non-Intrusionists,  the,  Scottish  Church,. 

122-126,  131-151 


Olmutz,  conference  at,  231,  244 
Omer  Pasha,  240 
Oregon  treaty,  181-184 
Osborne,  Lord  Aberdeen  at,  213 
Otho,  Prince,  of  Bavaria,  89 


Pakenham,  Mr.,  181 

Palmerston,  Lord  J.,  75,  77,  89,  113, 114,. 
154,  156,  168-171,  179,  181,  186,  194,. 
198,  209,  218,  222,  309  ;  policy  of,  196, 
197;  dismissal  of,  205,  206;  and 
Crimean  war,  225,  227-264  ;  and  re- 
form, 273  ;  in  office,  266,  283,  287-291, 
29s,  296 

Panmure,  Lord,  288 

Papal  aggression,  198 

Paris,  Lord  Aberdeen  at,  9,  63-65 

Parliamentary  representation,  reform  of,, 
104 

Paul,  Prince,  of  Wurtemberg,  88 

Pedro,  Dom,  of  Brazil,  89,  90 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  87,  103,  109,  115,  118, 
141,  144,  148,  152,  157,  159,  181,  183, 
195,  196,  305,  312;  and  Corn  Laws, 
185  ;  Administration  of  1835,  no  ;  and 
the  Spanish  marriages,  162-177  ;  re- 
signation of,  186  ;  death  of,  197 

Philip  of  Hesse,  Prince,  87,  88 


INDEX 


329 


PHI 

Philippe,  King  Louis,  100-102,  154  ;  and 

the  Spanish  marriages,  162-173 
Piscatory,  M.,  and  Greek  revokition  of 

1843,  159-161 
Pitt,  Mr.,  Lord  Haddo's  guardian,  6,  7, 

9-11,   13,   15,   312 ;  death  of,   16,   17  ; 

and  reform,  104 
Pnyx,  the,  at  Athens,  10 
Poland,  315 

Polignac,  Prince,  81,  96-98 
Polk,  President,  180 
Porte,  Russia  and  the,  219-264 
Portugal,  affairs  of,  89-96 
Pozzo  di  Borgo,  Count,  30,  48,  49 
Prague,  conferences  at,  23 
Presbytery,  the,  in  Scotland,  122-151 
Pretender,  the.  Lord  Haddo  and,  4 
Price,  U.,  letter  to  Rogers,  107,  108 
Pritchard,  Mr.,  157 
Protection,  206,  207 
Prussia,  40  ;  Austria  and,  24,  27,  247 
*  Punch,'  cartoon  in,  242 


'Quarterly  Review'  and  Bentley 
Priory,  13  ;  and  the  Emperor  Francis, 
29  ;  and  the  Spanish  marriages,  196 


Rae,  Sir  Wm.,  147,  148 

RedclifTe,  Lord  Stratford  de,  224,  231- 
239,  271 

Reform  question,  the,  104,  217 

Reform  Bill  of  1832,  105  ;  Lord  J.  Rus- 
sell's, 274-275 

Reshid  Pasha,  235 

Revolution  in  France,  1830,  98-102  ;  in 
1848,  196 

Rhine,  France  and  the  frontier  of  the,  55 

Richmond,  Duke  of,  2 

Roebuck,  Mr.,  264,  281-283,  2872 

Rogers,  319 

Roman  Catholic  Relief  Bill,  .y^^  Catholic 
Question 

Romilly,  Colonel,  282 

Rose,  Colonel,  220,  222 

Rothesay,  Lord  Stuart  de,  97-99 

Royston,  Lord,  8 

Russell,  Lord  John,  77,  142,  144  ;  Re- 
form Bill  of  1832,  105, 106;  government 
of,  194  ;  and  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill, 
197-202  ;  and  Lord  Aberdeen,  205-215, 
218,  266-286,  294,  299, 317, 318;  and  the 
Crimean  war,  227,  230,  234-264  ;  and 
the  Vienna  Note,  257-265  ;  Reform  Bill 
of,  273,  275  ;  and  the  War  Office,  278  ; 
resignation  of,  281-284 

Russell,  Lady  Louisa,  107 

Russia,  42  ;  the  embassy  to,  17  ;  Austria 
and,  24  ;  Emperor  of,  and  Bonaparte, 
27 ;  and  Sweden,  40-57  ;  war  with 
Turkey,  76-85  ;  and  Crimean  war, 
216-264,  304-306 


VIC 

Schwarzenberg,   Prince,   27,  42-47,    53 

204,  20s 
Scotch   Conservatives,   Lord    Aberdeen 

head  of  the, 116,  117 
Scotch  Entails  Bill,  73-75,  306 
Scotland,  franchise  in,  106  ;  Church  of, 
118,  309  ;  constitution  of  the  Church  of, 
121-123  ;  the  Veto  Act,  123-129  ;  Lord 
Aberdeen's  Act,  123-151 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  and  Lord  Abercorn 

at  Bentley  Priory,  13 
Sebastopol,  siege  of,  252,  253 
Selim,  Sultan,  10 
Seton,  Alexander,  2 
Seton-Gordon,  family  of,  2 
Seville,  Duke  of,  168,  173 
Sicily,  the  embassy  to,   17 ;   events  in, 

19,  41 
Sinclair,  Sir  George,  147,  149 
Sinope,  battle  of,  228,  242,  243,  273 
Slave  trade,  abolition  of,  Caulaincourt 
and,  59  ;  suppression  of,  in  the  TJnited 
States,  178,  179  ;  in  Brazil,  184 
Smith,  Mr._  Vernon,  282,  288 
Spain,  affairs  in,  158 
Spanish  marriages  of  1S46,  162-173,  194- 

196 
Speeches  in  the  House  of  Lords  :  reply 
to  Lord  Holland  re  Turkey,  85  ;    re 
Portugal,   92,   93 ;    the   Ecclesiastical 
Titles  Bill,  201 ;  relations  with  Russia, 
259,  277 
Stael,  Mme.  de,  49 
Stanhope,  Lady  Hester,  6 
Stephen,  Sir  James,  110,  111 
Stewart,  Sir  Charles,  36,  38,  39,  54 
Sutherland,  Duchess-Countess  of,  189 
Sweden,  40,  57  ;  travelling  in,  in  1S13, 

21,  22 
Switzerland,  39,  40,  31,  -,q. 
Syria,  France  and,  118,  120 


Tahiti  affair,  the,  157 

Talleyrand,  102 

Taylor,  Henry,  319 

Teplitz,   Lord   Aberdeen   at,  22  24,  26, 

30,  31,  40,  42 
Terceira  Expedition,  the,  93-95 
Test  and  Corporation  Acts,  103 
Texas,  Mexico  and,  1 81-184 
'  The  Times '  and  the  Crimean  war,  243 
Thiers,  M.,  153,  156;  on  the  Chatillon 

congress,   56,    62,    and    Egypt,    119, 

12a 
Trapani,  Count  of,  172,  173 
Turkey,  war  with  Russia,  1829,  76-87; 

the  Crimean  war,  218-264 
Turner,  Dr.,  17 


United  States  and  England,  178-184  : 
and  Texas,  181-184 


St.  Aignan,  Count  de,  37,  38,  55 
Ste.  Aulaire,  Count  de,  164,  166 


Veto  Act,  the,  123,  124, 129, 144-151 
Vicenza,  Duke  of,  61 


330 


LORD  ABERDEEN 


VIC 

Victoria,  Queen,  visit  to  the  Chateau 
d'Eu,  162  ;  and  Lord  Aberdeen,  185, 
199,  200,  212-214,  283,  284  ;  confers  on 
Lord  Aberdeen  the  vacant  Garter,  282, 
283  ;  visit  to  Haddo,  297 

Vienna,  Congress  of,  Og,  70 ;  the  Vienna 
Note,  228-250,  269-271 

VilHers,  Mr.  C,  282 


Walker,  Sir  Baldwin,  222 

Walpole's   'History  of    England    since 

1815,'  77,  173 
Walpole's  '  Life  of  Lord  John  Russell,' 

207,  208,  228 
Walsh,  Sir  John,  295I 
Wellington,    Duke    of,    and     Sir    A. 


WOO 

Gordon,  5  ;  at  Vienna,  70  ;  friendship 
with  Lord  Aberdeen,  75 ;  letter  to 
Lord  Aberdeen,  80,  81,  109 ;  and 
Greece,  87  ;  and  France,  96,  100  ;  and 
defeat  of  Government,  102,  103,  106, 
no;  and  Reform,  104 ;  Lord  Grey  and, 
112 ;  and  Lord  Aberdeen,  114-117, 
x'^2,  174,  306 ;  the  Peninsular  war^ 
261 

Westmorland,  Lord,  43-45,  246 

Whittington,  Rev.  G.,  8,  16 

Whyte,  Rev.  James,  case  of,  125-128 

Wllberforce,  Bishop,  307,  321 

Wilson,  Sir  Robert,  32,  33,  42-46,  51, 
305 

Woburn  Abbey,  Lord  Aberdeen  at   2i2' 

Wood,  Sir  Charles,  272 


14  DAY  USE 

MTURN  TO  DBSK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 


^sQii:tel;l_ 


OCT  1 5 196J 


-I 


iRlTACKT 


^,5o^lA-60m-3,'65 
(F2336sl0)476B 


University  of  California 
Berkeley 


% 


<^-/ 

--^-v 


n^ 


^.OGOGC 


/ 


